Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in theaters courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania's peak in North America. Following the surprise box office strength of the first Pokémon film, this sequel, known in Japan as Mewtwo Strikes Back's successor, The Power of One, pushed the franchise deeper into mainstream theatrical territory. Promotional trailer material from this release is a snapshot of that cultural moment, when Pokémon cards, cartoons, and merchandise saturated playgrounds and Saturday mornings alike, making any surviving film artifact from the campaign a marker of the era's peak enthusiasm.
This cell captures a promotional trailer moment built around Charizard, one of the franchise's most recognizable and sought-after characters, shown here in the act of pulling Ash and his companions. Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur round out the group, representing the core starter and mascot lineup fans gravitated toward, while Lugia's presence ties directly to the film's legendary status as the movie's mythical guardian figure. As a trailer cell, this piece belonges to the advertising material meant to entice audiences before release, making it a collectible tied not to the finished feature but to the anticipation built around it.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and uniform.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with a dashed cyan-style stripe above them; no Dolby Digital blocks visible between the lower perforations at this size.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue edge tint and neutral-to-cool dye image; blues and golds look saturated, with no fading or red shift seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible across the three frames.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and the animated style is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
A 35mm print with a stereo variable-area optical track and saturated dye is consistent with a theatrical release print of a 2000 animated 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 000071223
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
