Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to translate a television and trading card phenomenon into a theatrical event, pairing "Mewtwo Strikes Back" with the short "Pikachu's Vacation." It became a box office success far beyond expectations, cementing Pokémon as a cultural force in the West and introducing a generation to the franchise's mythology of cloned power and moral consequence through Mewtwo's origin story.
This cell places Jessie, James, and Meowth inside Mewtwo's laboratory, the trio whose comic bumbling as Team Rocket provided the series' consistent counterpoint to its larger themes. Their presence in this setting ties the film's lighter register to its central, weightier plot, as the lab stands as the site of Mewtwo's creation and the movie's thematic core. Collectors seek these three for their enduring popularity as the franchise's most recognizable antagonists, and a lab setting cell marks a rarer intersection of comic relief characters with the story's most serious location.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital theatrical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds two frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs along one edge; Dolby Digital data blocks are visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the lower edge, consistent with a Dolby SR/Digital release print.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base tint appears neutral to slightly cool; dye image shows no visible fading.
Projection history
Faint longitudinal abrasion lines visible across both frames, consistent with projection use.
Picture
Positive colour image; two consecutive frames from the same shot; animated content consistent with Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Era check
The combination of variable-area optical track and Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks is consistent with a mid-to-late 1990s theatrical release print, matching the 1999 release date of the film 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 CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
