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's bid to translate a global gaming and television phenomenon into a theatrical event. Produced by 4Kids Entertainment and OLM, it introduced American audiences to the franchise's darker mythic side, pairing the Mewtwo origin story with a Pikachu short. It became a commercial juggernaut, cementing Pokémon as a cross-media empire and giving a generation of young viewers their first cinema experience built around a video game property.
This cell centers on Mewtwo alone, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose creation and existential struggle form the emotional spine of the film. Collectors prize Mewtwo material for its rarity relative to the more merchandised Pikachu imagery and for its connection to the film's central philosophical question of identity and purpose. A single-character 35mm cell of this figure serves as a clean, iconic reference point, capturing the character in isolation without the ensemble cast around him.
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 look clean throughout the strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the perforations, appearing as a dual-bilateral (two-track) white waveform pattern; a narrow Dolby Digital data-block column appears to run in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote any text or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a blue-tinted clear stock consistent with a colour dye-coupler image; the dye image reads as strongly saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light longitudinal lines are visible running the length of the strip, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all four frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the subject matter is consistent with the animated feature listed on record.
Era check
The combination of dual-bilateral optical track, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, blue-base colour stock, and saturated dye image 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
