National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING

AUTHENTIC

CROWN CERTIFIED

Tap to enlarge

MOVIEPokémon 3: The Movie Trailer/Pikachu & Pichu Short Trailer

SCENEPikachu

FILM FORMAT35mm

YEAR2001

CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003384

FILM NOTES

Pokémon 3: The Movie arrived in 2001 courtesy of Warner Bros. and 4Kids Entertainment, the third theatrical feature built on the franchise's early, white-hot popularity in American theaters. This cell comes from the promotional run accompanying the film, the trailer and short material built to draw families into the summer release at the height of Pokémania. These theatrical reels are scarcer survivors than the feature prints themselves, since far fewer were struck and most were discarded once their short run ended, making them a niche but meaningful corner of the franchise's print history.

This particular cell preserves a strip from that promotional reel, the kind of 35mm fragment used to tease the feature ahead of its release. Pikachu stands as the franchise's defining mascot, the character most responsible for carrying Pokémon from handheld game to global screen presence, and any surviving piece of trailer film built around that figure holds natural appeal to collectors tracing the character's early theatrical footprint. As a trailer cell rather than a feature frame, it belongs to the promotional apparatus of the film, a physical remnant of how audiences were first invited into this particular chapter of the series.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm release-print strip from the Pokémon 3: The Movie trailer.

Gauge: 35mm, four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames in full.
Perforations: Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle punches, cleanly cut with no tears or missing holes visible.
Soundtrack: A variable-area optical track (two tracks) runs beside the picture, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print: The word SAFETY reads backwards along the lower edge, so the strip is emulsion-up; no key numbers or other codes are visible.
Base & colour: Pale cyan-blue base with neutral edges, and the dye image shows saturated yellows and purples with no fade or colour shift visible.
Projection history: No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; a few faint dust specks appear on the soundtrack area and nothing else.
Picture: Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animated character matches the Pokémon film on record.
Era check: Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks on a safety-base colour print is consistent with a 2001 theatrical release print or trailer.

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 000071159

Original Film Capture As received

The film strip as photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation

Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size