National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING

AUTHENTIC

CROWN CERTIFIED

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MOVIEPokémon: The Movie 2000 Trailer

SCENEPikachu

FILM FORMAT35mm

YEAR2000

CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003478

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in theaters courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine at the height of Pokémania, when the franchise dominated American playgrounds, television schedules, and toy aisles alike. As the second theatrical feature following the 1998 original, it carried the weight of sustaining a cultural phenomenon still near its commercial peak. Promotional trailers for the film circulated widely on 35mm reels ahead of feature presentations, giving theatergoers an early glimpse of the Legendary Birds storyline and reinforcing Pikachu's position as the franchise's defining image, long before home video and streaming made such reels obsolete artifacts of theatrical distribution.

This cell preserves a moment from that trailer run, with Pikachu as the sole figure on screen. Trailer cells like this one circulate among collectors precisely because they capture a promotional rather than narrative instant, a frame built to sell anticipation rather than advance story. Pikachu's presence alone speaks to the character's role as mascot and emotional anchor for the entire series, the figure studios trusted to carry an advertisement on name recognition. Owning a piece of that theatrical campaign connects a collector to the exact moment Pikachu was being introduced, again, to a worldwide audience in cinemas.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.

Gauge: 35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames, the first an unexposed amber-orange leader frame and two picture frames.
Perforations: Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or damaged perforations visible.
Soundtrack: A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture as two parallel tracks, with a dashed timecode-style line along the outer edge, which reads as a DTS timecode line.
Edge print: Not visible in this capture
Base & colour: Clear, slightly bluish base at the edges, with the two picture frames showing saturated, neutral-to-vivid dye and no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history: None seen at this size; the only marks are a ring-shaped reflection across the two picture frames, which is the camera reflected in the base, not wear.
Picture: Positive image; the first frame is a plain amber leader frame and the two picture frames repeat the same animated image, so they read as one continuous shot, and the cartoon style does not conflict with the film on record.
Era check: Consistent with a 2000-era release trailer print: the dual optical track plus a DTS timecode line is a typical 35mm theatrical soundtrack layout 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 000071253

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