Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing muscle, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American playgrounds and television schedules. The trailer campaign that preceded it was engineered to introduce Mewtwo as a darker, more philosophical antagonist than the franchise's television output had prepared audiences for, signaling that this was meant to be an event rather than an extension of the Saturday morning cartoon. For collectors of early Pokémon media, trailer cuttings from this release mark a transitional moment when the brand pushed toward theatrical legitimacy.
This cell draws from that promotional reel, built around Mewtwo alongside its cloned creations, Venusaur and Gyarados. Mewtwo's clones were central to the film's premise of manufactured life challenging the natural order, and Venusaur and Gyarados stood among the strongest of the originals recreated to serve its purpose. A trailer cell like this one exists to tease narrative stakes without full context, offering a fragment meant to draw audiences toward the complete story. For collectors, it represents an early marketing artifact tied directly to Mewtwo's introduction as a sympathetic yet formidable force.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital and optical release print of the Pokémon: The First Movie trailer.
Gauge
35mm layout: four perforations per frame on both edges, and the strip holds about four frames, the first and last partly cropped by the panel.
Perforations
Four per frame along both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track of two wavy white-and-black bands runs beside the picture, with a speckled Dolby Digital data block in each gap between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base reads pale cyan-blue at the edges under backlight, and the dye image looks neutral and saturated with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the frames look clean.
Picture
Positive colour image, with the four frames running consecutively as one shot, and the animated Pokémon characters match the film on record.
Era check
The optical track with Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations is consistent with a 1999 35mm release print of an animated 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
