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OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE FILM AUTHENTICATION
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell 000064924 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEPokémon: The First Movie Trailer
SCENEVenusaur Clone
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE ID000064924

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's first major push to bring the Pokémon phenomenon from television screens to American theaters. Built around the anime's mythology of Mewtwo's origins, the film capitalized on peak Pokémania, when the franchise dominated playgrounds, trading cards, and Saturday morning schedules alike. Trailers for the release circulated widely in advance of the November debut, seeding anticipation through fragments of footage that teased the film's darker, more ambitious tone compared to the weekly series.

This cell preserves a moment from that promotional reel featuring Venusaur, one of the original starter evolutions and a perennial favorite among early Pokémon collectors. As a clone in the context of the film's central conflict, this Venusaur ties directly into the movie's premise of genetic duplication and identity, themes that set The First Movie apart from standard children's programming. A trailer cell like this one captures a single frame used to entice audiences before release, making it a tangible artifact of the marketing campaign that helped define Pokémon's theatrical debut.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

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

Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible 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 track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture area, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation zone on the same edge, and a thin timecode line consistent with DTS also present.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a light blue-cyan tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image reads with cool blue-green tones and no obvious red shift or fading.
Projection history
Light vertical lines are visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the animated character visible is consistent with the Pokémon franchise film on record.
Era check
The combination of a cyan-base colour print stock, variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, and DTS timecode line is consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s, matching the 1999-1999 release window 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 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