Pokémon 3: The Movie arrived in 2001 courtesy of Warner Bros. and 4Kids Entertainment, the third theatrical outing built on the franchise's early, white-hot popularity. Promotional trailers for the film circulated widely in the months before release, part of a marketing push that treated the Pokémon brand as a theatrical event rather than a mere television spinoff. For a generation raised on the series, these trailers were often the first glimpse of new footage, making surviving 35mm trailer material a tangible link to that promotional campaign and the broader cultural moment the franchise occupied at the turn of the millennium.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer featuring Ash Ketchum and Charizard, two of the franchise's most recognizable figures and a pairing collectors return to again and again. Ash is the series' central trainer, while Charizard represents one of his most powerful and enduring companions, a creature long associated with strength and loyalty in the show's mythology. As a trailer frame, this piece belonged to the material meant to entice audiences ahead of release, built to showcase the bond between trainer and Pokémon in motion.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon 3: The Movie (2001).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three frames, each with a narrow picture area between black frame lines.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes, cleanly punched with no visible tears or stretched holes.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
The word SAFETY is visible along the lower edge, reading backwards; no key numbers or other codes are readable.
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted base along the edges with a neutral grey perforation margin; the dye image looks saturated with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames show the same shot almost unchanged, and the animated look is compatible with a Pokémon film trailer.
Era check
Consistent with a 2001 release print: optical analogue soundtrack, safety base and a saturated positive dye image fit a 35mm theatrical trailer of that period.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000071117
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
