Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of Pokémania as the franchise crossed from television into theaters for the first time. The trailer that preceded it was a cultural event in its own right, screened ahead of other features to build anticipation months before release. It promised audiences a darker, more mythic entry into the Pokémon world, anchored by a villain unlike anything the series had offered before.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer, built around Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose existence drove the film's central conflict. As the name on this card announces him directly, it marks the kind of promotional frame studios used to stamp a character's presence onto a reel, separate from narrative action, meant purely to announce who commands the story. For collectors, Mewtwo remains the film's defining figure, and a trailer cell naming him outright captures the marketing apparatus that introduced a generation to his legend before a single ticket was sold.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, the 35mm layout; the strip holds four frames, the first partly cut off at the left.
Perforations
Four per frame on the picture edge and on the soundtrack edge, rounded-rectangle shapes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or damaged holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, drawn as two white waveform lines, and the gaps between the lower perforations hold speckled grey blocks that look like Dolby Digital data.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-cyan edge tint; the dye image shows saturated blues and purples with no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; the frames and track look clean, with no scratches, cue marks or splices visible.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the blue 'MEWTWO' title text agrees with a Pokémon: The First Movie trailer.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print, since analogue optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks 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
