Warner Bros. handled distribution for Pokémon: The First Movie in North America, bringing Nintendo's phenomenon to theaters in November 1999 at the height of Pokémania. The film adapted material from Japan's Mewtwo Strikes Back, pairing it with the Pikachu short Pikachu's Vacation for American audiences. It marked the franchise's leap from television and trading cards into a theatrical event, backed by a marketing campaign that saturated malls, fast food chains, and Saturday morning television. The trailer itself became a cultural artifact in its own right, previewing a darker, more philosophical entry than the series' typical fare, one built around themes of cloning, identity, and purpose.
This cell preserves a strip from that trailer, built around Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose creation and existential struggle anchor the film's narrative. As the central antagonist turned tragic figure, Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most collected characters, prized for carrying the emotional weight of the story. A trailer cell like this one captures the promotional material used to sell the film before release, distinct from the finished feature itself, and offers a physical link to the campaign that introduced Mewtwo to a generation of moviegoers.
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, three of them complete and one cropped at the left edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and uniform from frame to frame.
Soundtrack
A double variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, and the strip also carries a grainy speckled band between the lower perforations that looks like Dolby Digital data blocks.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
The base looks clear with a faint blue-grey cast along the edges; the dye image is dark with strong blue, and no fading or red shift is seen.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the dark areas look clean and even across all four frames.
Picture
Positive image, four consecutive frames of one shot with a blue-lit circular subject centred in each, which fits an animated trailer for the film on record.
Era check
A twin optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks on a 35mm print is consistent with a late-1990s release print, such as 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
