Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television momentum into theaters, riding the crest of Pokémania at its peak in the United States. The trailer circulated ahead of release, built to stoke anticipation for a story centered on Mewtwo and the ethical weight of cloning. For many young audiences, this promotional reel was their first glimpse of the film's stakes, setting up a narrative where familiar creatures would be duplicated and pitted against their originals.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer spotlighting the cloned Charizard and Blastoise, two of the franchise's most recognizable and collected Pokémon. Their pairing here ties directly into the film's central conceit, the artificial replication of iconic species as a dramatic and moral centerpiece. As a trailer cell, this frame functioned to tease that plot thread to audiences before the feature itself unspooled, offering an early look at imagery meant to draw fans into theaters through the promise of seeing beloved characters multiplied and transformed.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The First Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds four frames with a fifth cut off at the right.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture; the bottom edge shows speckled Dolby Digital data blocks in the gaps between the perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear, slightly cool base; the dye image looks saturated and neutral with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; a faint ring on one frame is a camera reflection, not wear.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames run consecutively as one shot, and the animated cel art is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Dolby Digital blocks plus an optical track on a positive print fit a late-1990s 35mm 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
