Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in American theaters in November 1999, riding the first wave of Pokémania as Nintendo, Warner Bros., and 4Kids Entertainment raced to capitalize on a phenomenon that had already conquered Game Boys, trading cards, and Saturday morning television. The film's trailer campaign was a cultural event in its own right, previewing a darker, more mythic entry than the television series had offered, one built around a genetically engineered Pokémon wrestling with questions of identity and purpose. For a generation of young collectors, this marketing push was often their first exposure to the film's tone.
This cell preserves a strip from that trailer bearing Mewtwo, the film's central figure and one of the franchise's most enduring creations. As a trailer cell rather than a frame from the finished feature, it represents the promotional apparatus built to introduce Mewtwo to audiences before the movie's release, a fragment of the campaign that established the character's gravity ahead of general release. Collectors prize Mewtwo material for its scarcity relative to Pikachu-centered merchandise and for its connection to the franchise's first and most ambitious theatrical outing.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Kodak 2383 release print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds four complete frames in a row.
Perforations
Four perforations per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no tears or distortion visible.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the perforations on the sound edge.
Edge print
Edge print along the top reads, as seen (emulsion-up): '2383 207 084 0 10 K'ODAK 17 1999'.
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-cyan edge tint; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no obvious fade or colour shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size beyond a bright oval reflection on one frame; no scratches, cue marks or splices visible.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames run consecutively as one continuous shot of the same animated figure, and the animation style fits the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a 1999 release print: Kodak 2383 print stock, a 1999 date code, and an optical track with Dolby Digital data fit a late-1990s theatrical print.
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
