Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 through Warner Bros., riding the crest of the franchise's first great wave of American popularity. Adapted and expanded from Japanese source material by 4Kids Entertainment, the picture introduced Mewtwo's origin story to a generation discovering Pokémon through cards, games, and Saturday morning television. The theatrical trailer campaign that preceded the film was essential to its box office success, building anticipation in a media landscape where teaser footage circulated in theaters well before home video or internet access made such previews easy to revisit. This cell belongs to that promotional lineage, a 35mm fragment of the marketing push that helped cement the franchise's theatrical foothold.
This particular cell documents the clones of Charizard and Blastoise, two of the franchise's most recognizable starter-adjacent icons, reimagined here as genetic copies tied to the film's central conflict. Charizard and Blastoise each command strong followings independent of any single appearance, and their pairing within a trailer cell signals the marketing emphasis placed on familiar, powerful creatures to draw audiences in. As a trailer cell rather than a frame from the finished feature, this piece represents the film's public-facing introduction, the version of the story audiences glimpsed before buying a ticket, making it a distinct artifact from the release print itself.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout: four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds four frames, the last one cut off at the right edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle punches, cleanly cut with no tears or distortion visible.
Soundtrack
Two white variable-area optical tracks run in a band beside the picture; the lower perforation row carries speckled grey data blocks in the gaps between perforations, consistent with Dolby Digital data.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base reads faintly blue-cyan at the edges; the dye image looks saturated with no red shift or fading visible.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames repeat the same shot with minimal change, and the cartoon-style artwork is consistent with an animated feature, so no mismatch with the film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks on 35mm fits a late-1990s theatrical release print, consistent with a 1999 trailer.
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
