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 Warner Bros. and Nintendo's theatrical gamble on a franchise still climbing toward global saturation. Adapted from the Japanese original with new footage bolted on for Western audiences, it became a genuine cultural event, pulling families into theaters on the strength of a card game and Saturday morning cartoon turned box office phenomenon. For a generation of collectors, this was the moment Pokémon proved it could fill multiplexes, and the film's home media and promotional ephemera remain sought after as artifacts of that peak.
This cell isolates Ash Ketchum, the series' central trainer and the character through whom nearly every young viewer experienced the Pokémon world. The moment named here, Ash falling, points to one of the film's gravest turns, a passage of real stakes for a hero usually defined by persistence and forward motion. A 35mm cell like this preserves a single frame from that footage, a physical fragment of the print itself, valued by collectors precisely because it ties an emotional high point in Ash's story to a tangible piece of the movie's original theatrical run.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999/1999).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds two frames
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible below the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block region visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the lower edge
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Base appears neutral to very slightly warm; dye image shows strong, saturated colour with no visible fading
Projection history
No splices, cue marks or significant scratches visible; minor light vertical lines consistent with a projected print are faintly present
Picture
Positive colour image; the two frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the animated character style and colour palette are consistent with the Pokémon franchise film on record
Era check
The combination of dual bilateral variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, and saturated colour positive print on what appears to be a safety base is consistent with a 1999–1999 theatrical release print
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
