Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived at the height of Pokémania, distributed by Warner Bros. in the United States after Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's Japanese original, Revelation Lugia, found massive overseas success. It served as the franchise's second theatrical feature, arriving in the summer of 2000 on a wave of merchandising and trading card fervor. Promotional trailers for the film circulated widely in theaters and on home video, building anticipation for the legendary bird Pokémon at the story's center, a creature that had not been part of the original game generation's starting roster and so carried an air of rarity and spectacle.
This cell preserves a moment from that promotional reel centered on Lugia, the legendary guardian of the sea whose design and mythos made it an instant favorite among collectors. As a trailer cell, it belongs to the marketing apparatus built to sell the feature before release, a fragment meant to tease conflict and scale rather than narrative detail. The word "Battling" signals a moment of conflict central to the film's climax, the kind of large-scale confrontation that trailers are built to showcase. For collectors, a Lugia cell from this specific promotional context carries particular appeal tied to the character's rarity and the film's place in franchise history.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The Movie 2000 trailer.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames, with the picture running across the strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with cleanly punched rounded-rectangle holes and no tears or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with a dotted Dolby Digital-style data line in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks warm and saturated in yellow and orange with no obvious fading.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; a few small specks and dust spots on the frames.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames of one shot with the same figure in near-identical position; matches an animated Pokémon feature trailer.
Era check
Consistent with a year-2000 release print, because the optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks on a clear base fit the late-1990s to early-2000s 35mm format.
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 000071233
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
