Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived from Warner Bros. and Nintendo at the height of Pokémania, riding the franchise's explosive crossover from Japanese import to American cultural fixture. Known in Japan as Mewtwo Strikes Back's sequel era, this installment, The Power of One, kept the series' momentum alive in theaters following the first film's surprise box office success. Promotional trailers from this period were essential marketing tools, cut from early prints to build anticipation months ahead of release, making surviving trailer reels a distinct category of memorabilia separate from the feature film itself.
This cell comes from that promotional reel, centered on Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, the inseparable pairing at the heart of the entire franchise. Their presence together signals the series' core bond, trainer and partner, which drove merchandising and fan devotion alike. The moment named, retrieving the orb, points to a key plot device tied to the film's mythic quest structure. As a trailer fragment rather than a finished scene, it represents the raw promotional material studios once trimmed and discarded, now sought after by collectors precisely because so little of it survived intact.
Authentication Findings8 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, two near-identical and a third from a different angle.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched with no tears or missing sprockets.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs along one edge, with two bright waveform bands, plus a speckled grey Dolby Digital block pattern between the perforations on the other edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral to slightly cool, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; the frames run as one continuous shot, and the cartoon characters and look match a Pokémon: The Movie 2000 trailer.
Era check
The optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks and a colour positive on a clear base are consistent with a 2000-era 35mm release trailer print.
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 000071254
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
