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 from Warner Bros. and Nintendo's Pokémon Company partnership, riding the crest of the franchise's American television debut. Produced in Japan and localized for Western audiences, it introduced Mewtwo's origin story to a generation discovering the games and cards simultaneously. The film's box office success proved Pokémon was not a passing fad but a durable media franchise, and it remains a touchstone for collectors who trace the property's early theatrical era.
This cell centers on Mewtwo alongside its cloned counterparts Gyarados, Nidoqueen, Ninetales, and Scyther, drawn from the film's exploration of artificial creation and identity. Mewtwo stands as the movie's defining figure, a psychic Pokémon born of genetic manipulation whose narrative arc collectors especially prize. The clones represent the film's central conceit made visible, familiar species reimagined through Mewtwo's engineered ambition. A 35mm cell from this sequence preserves a physical fragment of that thematic core, a tangible artifact from one of the era's most consequential animated releases.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie.
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds four frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the perforations, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern; Dolby Digital data blocks are also visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the bottom edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base shows a slight blue-grey tint consistent with a safety acetate or polyester stock; the dye image reads with cool blue and purple tones, appearing neither faded nor red-shifted.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; the four frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot and the animated character style is consistent with the Pokémon franchise film on record.
Era check
The combination of dual bilateral variable-area optical track and Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks is consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s, matching the 1999/1999 release period 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
