Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in late 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television and trading card momentum onto the big screen. Built around Mewtwo's origin story, it became a cultural flashpoint for a generation raised on Game Boy cartridges and Saturday morning broadcasts, grossing well beyond expectations and cementing Pokémon as a theatrical property rather than a passing fad. The promotional trailer that preceded it was part of that marketing push, designed to reintroduce familiar faces to audiences ahead of release.
This cell draws from that trailer and gathers Ash Ketchum alongside Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Scyther, Nidoqueen, and Gyarados, a roster spanning the trainer's own team and the wider cast of creatures the film would showcase. Ash remains the franchise's central human figure, the audience surrogate collectors return to again and again, while Pikachu's presence anchors the commercial heart of the property. A trailer cell like this one captures the film in its promotional phase, assembled to stir anticipation rather than narrate plot, making it a touchstone for those who collected Pokémon ephemera as the movie first reached theaters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds four frames, shown in full on the panel.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched; the upper edge sits on a cream band.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track of two parallel bands runs along one edge; Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations of that edge appear as grey speckled patches.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a blue-teal tint at the margins; the dye image shows saturated, balanced colour with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the strip appears clean and flat with only light curvature from the panel.
Picture
Positive colour image; the four frames repeat one near-identical shot, consecutive, and the cartoon-style animation plausibly matches an animated Pokémon trailer.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks on a clear, tinted base fits a 1999 theatrical 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
