Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
FILM NOTES
Released in 2000 by Warner Bros. in North America under the Pokémon USA and Nintendo/4Kids banner, Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived at the height of Pokémania, following the franchise's explosive debut film the prior year. Built around the legendary bird Lugia and the balance of fire, ice, and lightning, the picture extended the brand's reach into a second theatrical outing, cementing Ash Ketchum and Pikachu as fixtures of American pop culture cinema. For collectors of animation and licensed-property film artifacts, this release marks a defining moment when a television phenomenon proved it could command the big screen.
This cell preserves a pairing between Ash and Pikachu, the franchise's central human-and-companion duo, alongside Lugia, the guardian legendary whose presence anchors this film's mythology. Lugia material draws particular interest from collectors, as the creature rarely appears in such direct proximity to the series' lead characters. A 35mm cell from this scene represents a physical fragment of the movie's climactic animation, the kind of frame that once passed through a projector during theatrical runs, now preserved as a tangible piece of the film's history.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print strip of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three frames, two of them showing the same unmoved image.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no tears or missing holes.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs along the lower edge between the picture and the perforations, and a Dolby Digital data strip is also visible between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Neutral to slightly cool clear base with a pale blue-tinted margin; dye colours look saturated, with no visible fade or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the picture area looks clean apart from a few small dust specks on the panel.
Picture
Positive colour image; the first frame is a different shot from the second and third, which repeat one image, and the animated cel style fits the film on record.
Era check
The optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks on a colour positive base is consistent with a 2000-era 35mm release print of an animated feature.
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 000071301
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
