Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machinery, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American playgrounds and Saturday morning television. The trailer that preceded its release was itself an event, broadcast and screened ahead of the feature to stoke anticipation for Pikachu, Ash, and company making their jump to the big screen. For a generation of collectors, this promotional material marks the moment the franchise proved it could fill theaters, not just television sets and toy aisles.
This cell comes from that trailer, and its subject is Mew, the elusive psychic-type whose mythology anchors the film's entire plot as the genetic counterpart to the villainous clone Mewtwo. Mew's scarcity within the games made it a legend among players long before the movie, and that reputation carries directly into collector demand for any frame bearing its likeness. A trailer cell such as this captures the character at the промотional threshold, representing the character's reveal to a mass audience before the narrative proper had even unspooled in theaters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release trailer print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds four complete frames side by side.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes, no torn or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
Two parallel variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a blue-grey cast at the edges; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, splices or cue marks are visible on these four frames.
Picture
Positive image, four consecutive near-identical frames from one static shot; a pink creature on a purple disc is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Dolby Digital blocks plus an optical analogue track on 35mm is consistent with a late-1990s release print or trailer such as 1999.
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
