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 tested whether a Japanese animated franchise could dominate American theaters. Based on the anime series adapted from the video games, it introduced Mewtwo, a genetically engineered Pokémon, to audiences already gripped by Pokémania. The film's box office success proved the franchise's staying power beyond television and trading cards, cementing Pokémon as a cross-media phenomenon in the late 1990s.
This 35mm cell carries the film's own name rather than a scene or character moment, marking it as a title element, the kind of frame that opens the picture or appears in early promotional reels before the story proper begins. Collectors of Pokémon: The First Movie material often seek these identifying cells precisely because they anchor a print to its release, offering a physical link to the moment the franchise crossed into American cinemas. As a title cell, it represents the film as a whole rather than any single frame within it.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie.
Gauge
35mm; the strip holds one frame with four perforations visible on the top edge and four on the bottom edge.
Perforations
Four per frame counted on each visible edge; spacing appears even; perforation outlines are cleanly defined with no torn edges visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running vertically beside the picture frame on the left side, showing the characteristic wavy bilateral pattern consistent with an analog optical track; Dolby Digital data blocks appear present in the inter-perforation gaps on the left edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight cyan-blue tint; dye image reads as neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive color image; a single frame is visible showing the title card graphic, consistent with a release print of Pokémon: The First Movie.
Era check
The combination of analog variable-area optical track, apparent Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, and cyan-base polyester stock is consistent with a 1999 theatrical release print of this title.
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 000059676
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
