Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess

Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess is a 2002 American animated fantasy action film based on the comic book Fairy Tail by Syo Tortellini. It was directed by Matthew Chaudhary, and its screenplay was written by series writer Ben Toepfer, while Tortellini was involved as the film's story planner. The film was released to theaters on August 18, 2002 by Paramount Pictures.

Plot
During a raid on Fire Village, local priestess Éclair flees with one half of her village's mystical Phoenix Stone before passing out. In Magnolia, Fairy Tail wizard Lucy Heartfilia spots Éclair collapsing on the city streets while returning from a mission. After bringing Éclair and her birdlike companion Momon to her guildhall, Lucy introduces them to her friends Natsu Dragneel, Happy, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, Wendy Marvell, and Carla. Hearing a vision from Carla, Éclair embarks on a journey to the monster-filled Boundary Forest. Éclair expresses contempt for magic and wizards, but Lucy and her friends persuade her to let them accompany her.

Suffering from amnesia, Éclair remembers that she must bring her stone half to Kalard, a wizard living in Boundary Forest. Along the way, the group encounters Chase, a wizard from the Carbuncle guild recruited by Duke Cream, the vain ruler of the neighboring country of Veronica, to capture Éclair. The group eventually finds the remains of Kalard's house and realizes he has died. Through a holographic message, Kalard reveals himself to be Éclair's father and tells her of a spell he created to dispel the stone's cursed magic. Lucy bonds with Éclair after revealing the death of her own father, Jude, convincing Éclair to implore Fairy Tail to fulfill her father's final request.

After the wizards return to Magnolia, Fairy Tail's guildhall is attacked by Carbuncle's leader Dist and his subordinates – Chase, Cannon, and Coordinator – who capture Éclair. Fairy Tail's master Makarov Dreyar and guildmates Gajeel Redfox and Panther Lily warn the guild that Cream plans to combine Éclair's stone with the other half in his possession to summon a phoenix that will grant him immortality. Lucy's team goes to Veronica along with Gajeel, Lily, and Juvia Lockser to rescue Éclair, defeating Dist's henchmen there.

Cream combines the two stones and prepares to burn Éclair as a sacrifice in the town square, where Éclair recognizes a phoenix-shaped idol from her village and regains her memories. Momon rescues Éclair, but is immolated. As Cream summons the phoenix, Dist throws him aside to attain immortality for himself. The "phoenix" appears in the form of a giant, non-avian monster and begins destroying everything around itself as Dist climbs on its back to obtain its immortality-granting blood. Natsu knocks him off the phoenix, but the monster continues its assault and begins absorbing the wizards' magic for a final, cataclysmic attack.

Éclair reveals herself to Lucy to be over 400 years old, having become immortal by drinking the phoenix's blood to survive the destruction of the Fire Village, which is now Veronica. Makarov and the rest of Fairy Tail arrive with an arrow created by Kalard and taken from the Magic Council to destroy the Phoenix Stone. However, Makarov explains that doing so would kill Éclair along with the phoenix. To Lucy's dismay, Éclair accepts her fate as Natsu and Erza use the arrow to destroy the stone inside the phoenix's eye. Éclair's body disappears with the phoenix, and her spirit reunites with Momon's as they ascend to the sky. In the aftermath, Veronica is rebuilt, Carbuncle's members are captured, the Fairy Tail wizards repair their guildhall, and Lucy smiles as she spots a young Éclair's spirit among the townsfolk.

Production
Coming soon!

Release
The film was released on August 18, 2002. Advance tickets were bundled with the 30-page novel Prologue: The Sunrise drawn by Syo Tortellini to promote the film. Alongside the movie, a Winx Club short film premiered with it. It opened in 9th place at the box office and received the highest per-screen average of any film shown that weekend. It held a top ten position until its second week. The film made its network television premiere on the HBO suite of channels on March 16, 2003.

Home media
The film was released on DVD and VHS on February 23, 2003. Special features of the DVD include an audio commentary with Chaudhary, Toepfer, Tortellini, and Soares, an animated version of Prologue: The Sunrise with audio commentary by Tortellini, and a behind the scenes featurette of the movie. The film was released on Blu-ray on August 26, 2022 alongside Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry.

Critical reception
Coming soon!