Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept across American culture. Adapted from the Japanese original with new footage aimed at Western audiences, it marked the franchise's leap from television and trading cards to the big screen, introducing a generation of young viewers to the mythology of Mewtwo, the lab-born Pokémon whose existential struggle gave the film an unusually somber core for a children's property. The trailer that preceded it became part of that cultural rollout, a teaser strip meant to stoke anticipation months before release.
This cell preserves a piece of that promotional reel, centered on Mewtwo alongside the cloned Pokémon central to its origin story. Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most sought-after figures, prized for its design and its role as the first Pokémon built around a darker, more philosophical narrative. The clones reinforce that theme, standing in for the film's meditation on identity and artificial creation. As a trailer fragment, this cell represents the marketing history of the movie itself, a physical trace of how audiences were first introduced to Mewtwo before the story had even begun.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which fits 35mm; the strip holds about three and a half frames, with the first and last cut off.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, rounded-rectangle holes that look evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or damaged holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track of two white waveform lines sits beside the picture; the gaps between the lower perforations are filled with speckled grey blocks, consistent with Dolby Digital data.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
The base shows a light blue tint along both edges; the dye image looks saturated and strongly coloured, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; the strip looks clean, apart from one single-frame reflection that is the camera's glare on the base.
Picture
Positive colour image; the frames follow one another as a single shot of the same artwork, and the animated Pokémon characters match the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: a Dolby Digital block pattern next to a two-line optical track suggests a digital-plus-analogue print, which suits a 1999 theatrical release.
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
