Warner Bros. released Pokémon: The First Movie in American theaters in November 1999, following 4Kids Entertainment's localization of the Japanese property for a Western audience hungry for the franchise after its television and trading card breakthrough. The trailer campaign built anticipation months ahead of release, introducing Mewtwo as a central antagonist and teasing the film's premise of cloned Pokémon. This era marked the height of Pokémania in the United States, with the movie's box office success cementing the franchise's crossover from games and cards into theatrical animation.
This cell comes from that trailer, preserving an early promotional glimpse of the film's core conflict. Blastoise and its clone counterpart appear alongside Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose creation drives the plot and whose cloning experiments produce the duplicate seen here. Collectors prize Mewtwo material from this period for its connection to the character's introduction to Western audiences, and pairing the original Blastoise with its clone speaks directly to the film's central theme of identity and replication. Trailer cells like this one hold particular interest as artifacts of the promotional campaign itself, distinct from frames drawn from the finished feature.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer strip for Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds four frames, each cropped in part by the curve of the strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes; none torn or missing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track with two wavy white-on-black lines runs along the lower edge beside the picture; the gaps between the lower perforations hold a speckled grey data pattern, which looks like Dolby Digital blocks.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted clear base with a neutral dye image; the blacks are deep and the colours show no fade or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; the four frames run consecutively as one shot with only slight movement between them, and the animated artwork is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Consistent: an analogue optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations fits a late-1990s 35mm release print, and the 1999 film on record.
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
