Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived at the height of Pokémania, when Warner Bros. and Nintendo pushed the franchise from television into theaters for a second time. Released through Kids WB's promotional machine, the film capitalized on a cultural wave that had American children trading cards and watching the anime in equal measure. The trailer circuit for this release was extensive, airing across Saturday morning blocks and theatrical previews alike, making Kids WB's branding as central to the viewing experience as the feature itself.
This cell preserves a Kids WB presentation card, the kind of segment that bridged network identity with the film being promoted. Such cards were standard practice in trailer reels of the era, announcing sponsorship and lending the broadcast a sense of occasion before the Pokémon footage proper began. For collectors, these pieces matter less for character content and more as artifacts of the WB-Nintendo promotional partnership, a tangible fragment of how a network inserted its own brand into the anticipation surrounding one of the biggest animated releases of 2000.
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, with three frames visible on the strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes; no torn or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture as two parallel tracks, with a speckled Dolby Digital data block visible in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue edge tint and neutral-to-cool dye image; no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
A thin vertical white line runs through the third frame, with a faint vertical streak in the second; no splices or cue marks seen.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one shot, showing a Kids' WB 'Presents' card, which fits a trailer for a Warner-distributed Pokémon film.
Era check
The combined optical track and Dolby Digital data blocks are consistent with a 2000-era 35mm release trailer print of the film on record.
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 000071288
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
