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OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE FILM AUTHENTICATION
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell 000064909 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEPokemon: The First Movie Trailer
SCENEMewtwo
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE ID000064909

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in November 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania at its commercial peak. The trailer campaign that preceded it was engineered to convert a Saturday morning cartoon into a theatrical event, promising audiences their first big-screen encounter with the franchise's mythology. For a generation of collectors, this release marks the moment Pokémon proved it could command multiplex attention, making surviving promotional celluloid from the campaign a tangible artifact of that crossover ambition.

This cell isolates Mewtwo, the genetically engineered psychic Pokémon whose origin and inner conflict anchor the film's plot. As a trailer piece, its purpose was to tease Mewtwo's presence ahead of release, using the character alone to signal the story's darker, more introspective register compared to the series' usual tone. Collectors seek out Mewtwo material specifically because the character represents the franchise's rare venture into weightier themes, and a trailer cell tied solely to him captures that promotional intent in its most concentrated form.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie Trailer (1999).

Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three 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 soundtrack track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture area, with what appears to be a second narrower track adjacent, consistent with a stereo variable-area configuration; Dolby Digital pixel blocks are not clearly distinguishable at this size, and no DTS timecode line or SDDS outer-edge tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
The base shows a blue-tinted dye image with strong, saturated colour; no obvious red shift or fading is apparent.
Projection history
No visible splices, cue marks, or heavy scratching are apparent; the print shows no obvious evidence of heavy projection wear.
Picture
Positive image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the title text visible matches the Mewtwo-related promotional material consistent with the film on record.
Era check
The variable-area optical soundtrack, saturated blue dye image, and 35mm four-perforation format are all consistent with a 1999 theatrical release print of the period.
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 Capture As received
The film strip as photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size