SCENEScyther, Venonat and Marill/Melody, Misty and Tracey
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR2000
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003487
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in theaters courtesy of Warner Bros., distributing the second theatrical outing produced by OLM and Nintendo's Pokémon franchise machine at the height of its North American popularity. Following Mewtwo Strikes Back, this sequel carried immense commercial weight, backed by a marketing campaign that saturated television and theaters alike with trailers designed to pull young audiences back for another round. The film's success cemented Pokémon as a repeatable box office draw rather than a one-off phenomenon, and the promotional material from this era, including trailer reels like this one, documents how aggressively the studio sold the franchise's expanding roster of creatures and characters to its audience.
This cell comes from a trailer, the kind of promotional reel built to tease upcoming footage rather than present a finished narrative moment. Scyther, Venonat and Marill represent some of the era's sought-after creature designs, each with its own following among species-focused collectors. Pairing them with Melody, Misty and Tracey ties the reel to the film's character ensemble, with Melody signaling specific plot material unique to this movie. Ash's absence from the named grouping here is itself notable to collectors tracking which characters anchor which trailer segments.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer for Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames, with one frame a different shot from the other two.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and uniform in size.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture as two wavy white tracks with a dashed line above, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted base along the edges, with neutral, saturated dye colours in the image and no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; the strip looks clean, with no visible scratches, splices or cue marks.
Picture
Positive colour image; the second and third frames are near-identical consecutive frames of one shot, preceded by a different shot, and the animated look fits a Pokémon film.
Era check
Consistent with a release print: a variable-area optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations fits a 35mm print of 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 000071262
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
