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 bid to translate a television and card-game phenomenon into a theatrical event. Produced by OLM under 4Kids' English adaptation, it paired the feature with the short Pikachu's Vacation and became a box office success that cemented Pokémon as a global franchise beyond Japan. For many young audiences it was a first cinema experience built entirely around the property, and it remains a touchstone for collectors tracing the franchise's earliest American theatrical push.
This 35mm cell carries Mew, the legendary Pokémon whose existence drives the film's entire plot as the genetic template for the villainous Mewtwo. Mew's design, rarity within the story, and mythic status among the original 151 make it one of the most sought-after subjects for collectors of Pokémon film material. A cell bearing this figure represents a physical fragment of the print used to tell that founding story, a tangible link to the movie's central mystery and to the character who quietly anchors the whole narrative.
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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