Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in American theaters in November 1999 from Warner Bros. and 4Kids Entertainment, riding the crest of Pokémania as the franchise expanded from Game Boy cartridges and Saturday morning television into a global cinema event. Adapted from the Japanese original with added footage, it introduced Mewtwo, a lab-born Pokémon wrestling with questions of identity and purpose, to Western audiences. The film's box office success cemented Pokémon as a lasting cultural force and gave a generation of young collectors their first taste of Pokémon on the big screen.
This cell captures a pairing central to the story's emotional core: Charizard, one of the franchise's most iconic and fan-favorite creatures, alongside Mewtwo, the film's tragic antagonist. Charizard's presence draws collectors for its enduring popularity across games, cards, and animation. Sharing frame space with Mewtwo situates this piece within the movie's climactic confrontation between cloned Pokémon and their original counterparts, a moment that carries the film's central theme of identity and worth. As a 35mm cell, it preserves a physical fragment of that theatrical release.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999/1999).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the perforations, appearing as a dual-wave white-on-black pattern consistent with a stereo variable-area optical track.
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-neutral tint; the dye image presents strong saturated colour with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No splices, cue marks, or prominent scratches are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to run consecutively from a single shot and the animated colour palette is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
The dual variable-area optical track alongside standard 35mm four-perforation framing is consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s, matching the 1999 US release window of the film on record.
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
