Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo capitalized on the franchise's explosive stateside popularity, bringing the games and television series to American theaters for the first time. The film's marketing push was relentless, with trailers circulating widely in advance to build anticipation among a young fanbase experiencing its first taste of Pokémon on the big screen. That promotional campaign, including the reels of 35mm trailer footage struck for theatrical distribution, now stands as a tangible record of the franchise's crossover moment into mainstream American cinema.
This cell preserves a trailer moment built around Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose origin and inner conflict anchor the film's plot. As the movie's central antagonist turned reluctant protagonist, Mewtwo carries outsized collector interest, since the character's design and philosophical weight set this entry apart from typical Pokémon fare. A trailer card of this kind functions as advance signage, announcing the character's presence and the film's stakes before audiences ever reached the feature itself, making this fragment a marker of how Mewtwo was positioned as the movie's defining draw.
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 in view.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-corner rectangular holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no tears or missing holes visible.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, 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-cyan edge tint; the dye image looks neutral to cool blue with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image; the frames read as consecutive, with the two left frames near-identical and the right two lighter and washed pale, and the visible figure and blue burst are consistent with the film on record's animation.
Era check
Dolby Digital blocks plus an optical analogue track on a clear base fit a late-1990s 35mm release print, consistent with 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
