Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as the franchise's leap from television and trading cards to the big screen, distributed by Warner Bros. in North America following its Japanese release the prior year. Built on the Pokémon boom that had swept toys, games, and Saturday morning schedules, the film introduced Mewtwo as a genetically engineered antagonist whose existential struggle gave the series unexpected weight. The trailer campaign that preceded the movie became its own cultural artifact, teasing audiences with glimpses of a darker, more cinematic take on the beloved property before the film's wide release that November.
This cell, drawn from that trailer and marked Mewtwo Commands The Clones!, centers on Mewtwo, the psychic clone of Mew whose ambitions to dominate through engineered duplicates drive the film's central conflict. Venusaur and Pidgeot appear here as clones under his direction, evolved Pokémon repurposed as instruments of his will. Collectors prize Mewtwo material for the character's rarity and thematic gravity within the franchise's early mythology. A trailer cell like this one preserves a promotional moment, the kind of early advertising artifact meant to build anticipation, offering a fragment of the marketing history surrounding one of animation's most consequential theatrical debuts.
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 visible edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched holes appear clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single-track analog stripe.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-teal tint consistent with a colour print stock; dye image reads as neutral with saturated primaries intact.
Projection history
Fine longitudinal lines are visible running the length of the strip, consistent with a projected print.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the animated character style is consistent with the Pokémon franchise film on record.
Era check
The single variable-area optical track, colour positive print stock, and base tint are all 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
