Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American pop culture. Adapted from the Japanese original, the film brought Pokémon to the big screen for the first time, introducing a generation of young audiences to a theatrical experience built around the franchise's creatures and mythology. Its marketing push, including trailers distributed to theaters nationwide, was a cultural event in its own right, since this was one of the first times a video game and card game phenomenon crossed over into mainstream cinema with such force.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer centered on Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon at the heart of the film's story. Mewtwo's design and narrative weight made it an immediate favorite among collectors, standing apart from the series' more lighthearted mascots as a figure of power and isolation. A trailer cell like this one functioned as promotional material, meant to build anticipation ahead of release, and a close-up framing in that context would have served to highlight Mewtwo as the film's central, defining presence to audiences encountering the character for the first time.
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, with the strip holding about three and a half frames, three of them complete.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes that look evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or stretched holes seen.
Soundtrack
Two white variable-area optical tracks run between the picture and the lower perforations; Dolby Digital data blocks show in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral, saturated and not visibly faded.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; the frames run consecutively as one shot of an animated purple figure, consistent with the animated feature on record.
Era check
The optical track with Dolby Digital blocks fits a late-1990s 35mm release print, and the animated picture fits the 1999 film on record.
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
