Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as a joint production between Nintendo, Shogakukan, and OLM, distributed in the West by Warner Bros. It brought the phenomenon of Pokémon from television and trading cards onto the big screen at the height of the franchise's global rise, pairing Mewtwo's origin story with a bonus short, Pikachu's Vacation. For many young audiences it was a first theatrical experience tied to a media property still new to America and Europe, making the release a marker of late-90s pop culture and merchandising history.
This cell relates to the Ancient Mew sequence, the mysterious prologue tied to the legendary Pokémon Mew, whose fossil imagery and old-language text set the tone for Mewtwo's creation myth. Mew and Mewtwo hold particular weight for collectors, as their linked origin drives the film's central conflict. A cell bearing this title likely comes from the opening or bridging material establishing that ancient lineage, the kind of footage used to frame the film's mythology before the main narrative unfolds.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie.
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds one frame in the captured image area.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched holes have clean, rounded corners with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge below the picture area, appearing as two white wavy lines consistent with a dual bilateral or stereo variable-area track; a row of small blue-tinted dots is also visible above the optical track, consistent with a Dolby Digital data block strip between the perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm amber-to-golden cast across the frame area with brownish-red toning toward the edges, suggesting colour dye shift consistent with an aged colour print.
Projection history
No splices or cue marks are visible; the dye shift and uneven colour distribution across the frame suggest the print has seen projection use.
Picture
Positive colour image; the single visible frame shows a framed rectangular image with decorative border elements, consistent with a theatrical release print title or interstitial card from the film on record.
Era check
The combination of dual variable-area optical track and Dolby Digital data blocks between perforations is consistent with a 1999-1999 theatrical release print, when that hybrid soundtrack configuration was standard.
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, 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.
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
