Pokemon: The First Movie arrived in theaters in November 1999, brought to American audiences by Warner Bros. after Nintendo and 4Kids built the Pokemon phenomenon into a merchandising and television juggernaut. The trailer that preceded it was a crucial marketing artifact, designed to translate a card game and cartoon into a theatrical event worth a ticket price. For collectors of 1990s pop culture ephemera, these promotional strips capture the moment before the franchise's peak saturation, when anticipation was still being manufactured frame by frame on 35mm stock destined for projection booths nationwide.
This cell isolates Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokemon whose origin and internal conflict anchor the film's plot and set it apart from lighter series entries. As the trailer's central figure, Mewtwo represents the marketing hook meant to draw audiences beyond the show's usual demographic, promising a darker, more ambitious narrative. A trailer cell like this exists purely for promotion, cut for theatrical preview reels rather than the feature print itself, making it a distinct artifact of how the studio chose to introduce its most complex character to the public before the movie's release.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie Trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds one frame.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running beside the picture on one edge, with what appears to be a separate digital timecode or data stripe adjacent to it.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-teal tint; the dye image reads as a cool, blue-dominant positive with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are apparent.
Picture
Positive image; a single frame is present showing title-card lettering consistent with a theatrical trailer title card for the film on record.
Era check
The variable-area optical track, positive release-print format, and cool dye balance are all consistent with a 1999 US theatrical 35mm 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
