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 through Warner Bros., distributing 4Kids Entertainment's adaptation of the Japanese anime feature at the height of Pokémon's explosive Western debut. Backed by a merchandising blitz and a soundtrack featuring pop acts of the moment, it became a box office phenomenon, introducing millions of young viewers to Mewtwo, the franchise's first major original creation for the movies. The film's success cemented Pokémon as a lasting multimedia force beyond games and trading cards.
This cell centers on Ash Ketchum, the series' central trainer and the audience's constant guide through the Pokémon world, placed opposite Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose existential struggle drives the film's narrative weight. A moment framed as Ash fighting Mewtwo points to the story's central clash, where a human bond is tested against an artificial being's search for purpose. Collectors seek these two figures together because their confrontation anchors the film's emotional and thematic core, making a strip built around it a compact record of the movie's defining encounter.
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 picture area, appearing as a single bilateral variable-area track; a fine dotted line consistent with a Dolby Digital data track is also visible in the inter-perforation zone on the lower edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a cool blue-neutral tint consistent with a colour print stock; dye image appears saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light horizontal scratching is visible in the soundtrack area along the lower edge, consistent with a projected print; no splices or cue marks are visible.
Picture
Positive colour image; the four frames run consecutively as a single continuous shot and the animated characters and visual style are consistent with the film on record.
Era check
The combination of a bilateral variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, and colour print stock 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
