- "POKÉMON
THE MOVIE 2000"
- Ash, Pikachu and the
entire Pokémon Universe return for a spectacular, all-new
adventure in Kids' WB! Presents "Pokémon the Movie
2000."
The sequel to last fall's hit movie is an exciting adventure
about a terrible force that throws the Pokémon universe
horribly out of balance, threatening all life on Earth. The
only one who stands a chance of stopping it is young trainer
Ash Ketchum … but it will take all his courage and strength
to become the hero he was destined to be. In "Pokémon
the Movie 2000" Ash sets out to prove that one person
can make all the difference when he embarks on the greatest
Pokémon adventure yet … saving the world.
"Pokémon the Movie 2000" will see the debut
of six new Pokémon, including Lugia, a legendary Pokémon
that plays a key role in helping Ash restore balance to the
world. Warner Bros. Pictures is once again collaborating with
Nintendo of America, which controls the Pokémon franchise,
which it acquired from the original creators in Japan, in
all territories outside of Asia, and 4Kids Entertainment,
Nintendo's exclusive agent for licensing the property, which
adapted the film.
- " Pokemon
the Movie 2000 " is distributed by Warner Bros. Family
Entertainment, a Time Warner Entertainment Company. www.p2kthemovie.com
© 1995, 1996, 1998 Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK. Pokémon
is a trademark of Nintendo. WIZARDS OF THE COAST is a registered
trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. © 2000 Wizards
of the Coast, Inc.
- Pokemon
The Movie 2000
- From
Warner Brothers -
- POKEMON: The First
Movie
- From
Warner Brothers -
-
- Witness the Rarest Pokemon of All
in Their First Feature Film -
- Ash Ketchum and his fellow Pokemon trainers,
Misty and Brock, are about to embark on a great adventure-the
continuing quest to become the greatest Pokemon masters of
all time!
- Pokemon, the worldwide phenomenon which
began as a hand-held video game and virtually exploded across
the globe in every form from trading cards to the number one
rated television kids' show on the Kids' WB!, hits the big
screen with an exciting adventure about the greatest Pokemon
battle yet.
- "Pokemon: The First Movie"
follows Ash and Pikachu and their pals to a remote island
where they are lured into a massive Pokemon battle which will
take all their courage and skill. In the ultimate showdown
on New Island, the rare and legendary Pokemon Mew must do
battle with the bio-engineered Mewtwo, a master trainer and
the world's most powerful Pokemon. Let the match begin!
- Kids' WB! presents a 4Kids Entertainment
Production, the American adaptation of "Pokemon: The
First Movie" is written by Norman J. Grossfeld, Michael
Haigney and John Touhey with voice direction by Michael Haigney.
Norman J. Grossfeld, President of 4Kids Productions, is the
Producer. The animated film is directed by Kunihiko
Yuyama and produced by Choji Yoshikawa, Tomoyuki Igarashi
and Takemoto Mori.
- The film written by Takeshi Shudo is
based on characters created by Satoshi Tajiri. It is distributed
by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment, A Time Warner Entertainment
Company.
A brand new Pokemon, Donphan, makes his debut in "Mewtwo
Strikes Back," the episodic feature of Pokemon: The First
Movie."
- Additionally, a short called "Pikachu's
Vacation,"starring Ash's furry pal Pikachu, the most
charming and beloved Pokemon of them all, makes its American
debut along with the feature-length film. "Pikachu's
Vacation" introduces two new Pokemon, Snubble and Marill.
- "Pokemon: The First Movie"
opens nationwide on November 12.
- ABOUT THE PHENOMENON
- The worldwide phenomenon of Pokemon encompasses
the fastest-selling Game Boy game as well as the #1 rated
TV show on Kids WB! along with best-selling books, music and
videos. The phenomenon continues to spill over into sales
of licensed merchandise, including a best-selling toy line
and a hugely popular card game seen in notebooks of kids all
across America. Fan excitement thrives on the Internet - web
sites, official and otherwise, proliferate. Pokemon"
is the sixth most-searched-for word on the Internet.
- Now, "Pokemon: The First Movie"
brings the Pokemon experience to American movie screens for
the first time.
- Originally animated in Japan, Pokemon:
The First Movie" had to be virtually reimagined for American
audiences.
Nintendo, which owns all rights to Pokemon in America, brought
4Kids Entertainment on board to handle all the creative aspects
of essentially "Americanizing" the movie.
- 4Kids Entertainment's Norman Grossfeld,
along with Michael Haigney and John Touhey, dramatically rewrote
the script, incorporating all-new story elements. Grossfeld
explains, "Our first challenge was to rewrite the film
and dub the new script over the footage. We also rescored
the entire movie with all new music that would better reflect
what American kids would respond to."
- The all-new musical score was produced
by John Loeffler for Rave Music. Loeffler composed the score
with Ralph Schuckett. John Lissauer and Manny Corallo collaborated
with Loeffler on the score for the short ìPikachuís
Vacation.î The soundtrack for ìPokÈmon
The First Movieî will feature a soon-to-be-announced
line-up of some of the hottest-selling young recording artists
of 1999, including M2M.
- With time available to fine-tune, Shogakukan
Production Co., Ltd. digitally enhanced the backgrounds exclusively
for the American release to give the story a more striking
and dramatic presentation.
- Additionally, the filmmakers worked to
translate everything on the screen to English, from signs
on buildings to street names, to ensure that American moviegoers
would not miss out on any part of the Pokemon experience.
- "The resulting film," continues
Grossfeld, "combines the visual sense of the best Japanese
animation with the musical sensibility of Western pop culture."
- The Pokemon phenomenon began in Japan
in 1996, with Nintendo inciting a national craze when it introduced
software for its Game Boy portable video game system called
"Pocket Monsters." Created by the young award-winning
game software designers Satoshi Tajiri and Tsunekazu Ishihara,
the game quickly rose to the top of the highly competitive
Japanese game market. The interactive, role-playing game of
Pokemon (its
officially shortened name) offered young players (called "trainers")
a chance to capture an ever-increasing number of collectible
species (now officially 151 with Mew) and engage in Pokemon
battles with other trainers. The trainer's goal is to increase
his status through battles with other trainers until he earns
the ultimate badge of honor by becoming "The World's
Greatest Pokemon Master."
- The simple task of capture becomes less
so in the complex world of Pokemon, as each creature possesses
its own special powers and abilities based on its connection
with certain elements (earth, wind, fire, water). Trainers
must not only exhibit manual dexterity, problem solving and
strategizing skills to win battles, but must commit to memory
an ever-growing catalogue of arcana about which strategies
best which.
Trainers are also admonished to teach and care for their captured
Pokemon in order to become more successful. To complicate
matters, captured Pokemon can evolve and become even more
powerful.
- What differentiated this game from software
games past was the imaginative and multi-layered world (and
its inherent mythology) created for the players/trainers,
which itself was based on 20th century tools of advanced technology.
Also, although trainers engage in "battles" with
their captured species, vanquished Pokemon are simply knocked
unconscious, not killed. Industry watchdogs likened the game
to "a Mensa version of rock/paper/scissors."
- The wildly successful game spawned a
series of Japanese comic books in Japan and in turn a line
of toys, trading cards and eventually, a smash-hit television
series. Nintendo of America purchased the rights to the entire
Pokemon franchise.
- Gail Tilden, Vice President, Product
Acquisition and Development for Nintendo of America, remembers,
"We saw the fervor this game generated in its young players
and the genuine affection they felt for the Pokemon, such
as Ash's favorite, Pikachu. It also encouraged teamwork and
cooperation among trainers. Nintendo felt that American
children could appreciate the same qualities that made Pokemon
such a tidal wave experience in Japan-it literally saturated
their cultural landscape."
The unstoppable force of Pokemon was about to hit Americanshores.
Immediately after Nintendo imported the show, 4Kids Entertainment,
Nintendo's exclusive agent for the television series, home
video and merchandising, dubbed it into English.
- It began showing in syndication in September
1998 and within a few months shot to the top of the ratings
chart for children's programs.
Nintendo strategically launched the Pokemon video game to
American consumers a few weeks later. Other merchandise (trading
cards, comic books, videos, compact disks) followed. The video
game has sold
upwards of 4 million Nintendo Game Boy games in the United
States, with the Pokemon game cartridges topping all others
in the first and second best-selling slots.
- Pokemon has since become the largest
child-driven phenomenon of the decade, striking American shores
with the force of a tsunami. Kids' WB! purchased the television
show and debuted it on February 13, 1999.
Until recently, the show aired in syndication and now runs
exclusively on the network. It is the #1 series on broadcast
television among Kids 2-11, 6-11, Boys 2-11 and Boys 6-11.
- Back in Japan, the first Pokemon feature
film (produced by Shogakukan Production Co., Ltd.) was released.
Surpassing "Godzilla" at the Japanese box office,
it scored fourth in total box-office receipts for the year.
- On November 12, American kids will get
their first glimpse of Ash, Pikachu and the rest of the gang's
first big-screen adventure in America.ëPokemon: The
First Movie' brings the popular Pokemon characters to an even
wider group of viewers, who will learn for themselves what
makes Pokemon red-hot," comments Alfred Kahn, Chairman
and CEO of 4Kids Entertainment and Executive
Producer of Pokemon: The First Movie."
- ABOUT THE STORY
- A group of scientists have been working
in a secret laboratory, attempting to create the strongest
Pokemon yet in existence.
For this, they have taken DNA from a fossilized hair sample
(discovered in the Amazon) of the legendary Pokemon Mew, using
the elusive creature's genetic code to bio-engineer Mewtwo.
Unaware of their creation's power, the scientists and their
laboratory are destroyed by the awakening Mewtwo. Angered
at his creators for making him the
Pokemon equivalent of Frankenstein's monster, Mewtwo swears
revenge on the world.
- Ash Ketchum is relaxing with his pals
Misty and Brock when he is challenged to a Pokemon battle
by a neophyte trainer. Ash, aided by his favorite and first
Pokemon, Pikachu, easily defeats the trainer. A hologram of
a beautiful girl appears, inviting the trio to a party held
at the palace on New Island, hosted by her master, "the
world's greatest Pokemon trainer."
They accept the invitation. Meanwhile, Ash's arch rivals,
Team Rocket (the duo of Jessie and James and their Pokemon
mascot, Meowth), secretly watch the hologram and vow to attend
the party as well. All of the trainers hoping to attend the
party gather at the ferry station seeking passage to New Island.
A hurricane shuts the ferry service down, but some enterprising
trainers (including Ash, Misty and Brock and Team Rocket)
use their Pokemon to cross the dangerous waters.
Once at the castle, the trainers are shown to a great hall
by Joy, the beautiful girl who appeared in their hologram
invitation. She introduces the trainers to their host-Mewtwo,
a master trainer and the world's most powerful Pokemon, who
reveals his plan to hijack the globe with a specially created
race of Super-Pokemon.
- What follows is the ultimate Pokemon
match of all time, ending with a face-off between Mewtwo and
the rare and powerful Mew.
- Kids' WB! presents a 4Kids Entertainment
Production, the American adaptation of "Pokemon: The
First Movie" is written by Norman J. Grossfeld, Michael
Haigney and John Touhey with voice direction by Michael Haigney.
Norman J. Grossfeld, President of 4Kids Entertainment, is
the Producer. The animated film is directed by Kunihiko
Yuyama and produced by Choji Yoshikawa, Tomoyuki Igarashi
and Takemoto Mori. The film written by Takeshi Shudo is based
on characters created by Satoshi Tajiri. It is distributed
by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment, A
Time Warner Entertainment Company.
- -
"Pokemon: The First Movie" -
- © Warner
Bros.
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