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Pokemon: The First Movie arrived in North American theaters in November 1999, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, adapted from the Japanese original released the previous year. The theatrical trailer, produced in 1998, introduced Western audiences to the franchise's first feature film and marked a significant moment in the global expansion of the Pokemon phenomenon beyond television and trading cards.
This cell, titled Mew, captures the legendary Pokemon's dramatic emergence from a burst of purple radiant light during the trailer's opening sequence. Across the four frames, Mew transitions from a faint silhouette within the luminous burst to a fully revealed figure against the glowing purple background, with studio and title text visible throughout — a quietly iconic image from the trailer's earliest moments.