Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in late 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania at its American peak. Built around Mewtwo's origin story, the film was preceded by a trailer campaign that primed audiences for a theatrical experience built on a television phenomenon. For many young collectors, this was their first exposure to Pokémon on the big screen, and the marketing material that circulated beforehand became its own artifact of that cultural moment, preserved now in strips like this one.
This cell comes from that trailer, specifically a transition passage involving the clones of Charizard and Blastoise, set against appearances by Ash Ketchum, Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. Trailers compress a film's stakes into short bursts, and a transition cell marks the connective tissue between those bursts, the handoff from one idea to the next. Charizard's presence alone drives demand, as it remains the franchise's most collected creature, while the pairing with Blastoise and the original starter lineup situates this piece firmly within the film's early promotional identity.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999), with limited evidence.
Gauge
35mm layout, with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds four full frames side by side in the capture.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle in shape and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
Two white variable-area optical tracks run along the lower edge beside the picture; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-teal tint on the base margins; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fade or red shift.
Projection history
One faint hair-like line sits above the strip on the panel, not on the film; no scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; the four frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animated look is plausible for the film on record.
Era check
A two-track optical soundtrack with standard 35mm perforations is consistent with a late-1990s theatrical trailer print, though digital tracks are not visible here.
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
