Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 through Warner Bros. and Nintendo's partnership with Pikachu Project, riding the height of Pokémania in North America. It brought the franchise from television to theaters for the first time, pairing the feature with a Pikachu short and a marketing blitz of toys, cards, and trailers that saturated the culture that year. The film's box office success cemented Pokémon as a lasting cinematic property rather than a passing craze, and its trailer reels circulated widely as promotional artifacts distributed to theaters ahead of release.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer built around Gyarados, one of the franchise's most visually striking and powerful Pokémon, long prized by collectors for its dramatic presence in both games and animation. Its inclusion in early promotional material signals the scale and spectacle the film's marketing wanted to convey, using a recognizable heavyweight creature to hint at the larger battles awaiting audiences. As a trailer cell, this frame belonged to the reel meant to entice theatergoers before the feature, a physical remnant of the promotional campaign rather than the film itself, capturing Pokémon's transition into blockbuster territory.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie Trailer (1999)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds four frames
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no visible torn or deformed holes
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single bilateral variable-area track
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight cool-blue tint; dye image reads as saturated with strong blue and purple tones, no visible fading or red shift
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate
Picture
Positive colour image; all four frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot and the animated character visible is consistent with the Pokémon franchise film on record
Era check
A single bilateral variable-area optical track alongside a positive colour print on a cool-tinted safety base is consistent with a 1999 theatrical release print of this title
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
