Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in November 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's gamble that the franchise could fill American theaters the way it had filled playgrounds. Produced in Japan and adapted for Western audiences, it paired the animated feature with a Pikachu short and became a cultural marker of peak Pokémania, introducing millions to Mewtwo, the series' first synthetic antagonist, and cementing the brand's leap from handheld screens to the big one.
This cell preserves a moment tied to Mewtwo's stronghold, the fortress built as an extension of his isolation and engineered origins. As the film's central figure of manufactured power and identity, Mewtwo draws collectors who want physical artifacts from his arc rather than Pikachu ephemera alone. An entrance sequence like this typically functions as scene-setting, establishing the scale and remove of Mewtwo's domain before the story's central conflicts unfold. For collectors, a 35mm frame from this juncture holds value as a piece of the character's introduction into the film's world.
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.
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