Pokémon: The Movie 2000 hit American theaters in the summer of that year, riding the crest of Pokémania as Warner Bros. and Nintendo pushed the franchise's second theatrical feature to a wide domestic release. Also known as The Power of One, it expanded the series' mythology by introducing the Legendary Birds, Moltres among them, setting a template for the elemental, world-threatening stakes that would define later installments. Promotional trailers for the film circulated widely, building anticipation for audiences who had embraced Pikachu and company the year before.
This cell preserves a moment from that promotional reel centered on Moltres, one of the three Legendary Birds whose scarcity and mythic status make them perennial favorites among collectors of early Pokémon material. The cell's naming, Moltres Crying, tells us plainly the emotional register of this instant, a Legendary creature given a moment of vulnerability rather than raw power. Trailer cells like this one carry particular interest for archivists, capturing how the studio chose to market the film's emotional stakes before audiences ever saw the finished feature.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no tears or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track with two parallel waveform tracks runs beside the picture; Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode and SDDS tracks are not visible in this capture.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted edge margins with a neutral clear base; the dye image shows saturated colour with no fading or red shift seen.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; one dark ring on the middle gap is a camera reflection, not film wear.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames repeat the same composition as one near-static shot, and nothing in the picture contradicts the film on record.
Era check
A two-track optical soundtrack on a colour positive base is consistent with a 35mm release print or trailer print from around 2000.
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 000071224
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
