Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of a cultural wave that had turned a Game Boy title into a global phenomenon. The theatrical trailer played a crucial role in building anticipation, teasing audiences with their first glimpse of a darker, more cinematic Pokémon story centered on Mewtwo, a genetically engineered Pokémon wrestling with questions of identity and purpose. For many young fans, this trailer was the first signal that the franchise could carry weight beyond the television series.
This cell preserves a moment of command and hierarchy, with Mewtwo positioned as the dominant figure over its cloned forces, here represented by Scyther, Gyarados, and Nidoqueen. Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most sought-after characters among collectors, prized for its central role in the film's conflict and its enduring popularity across generations of fans. A trailer cell like this one captures Pokémon not in gameplay or television form but in early cinematic framing, meant to establish stakes and scale for a theatrical audience encountering these characters anew.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which reads as 35mm; the strip holds four frames, the outer two cut off by the crop.
Perforations
Four per frame on the top edge and on the bottom edge, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs as wavy white bands above the lower perforations, and the speckled blocks between those perforations look like Dolby Digital data.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a slight cool blue cast across the strip; the dye image looks saturated, with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible on the frames.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames run consecutively as one shot, and the Pokémon characters shown fit the film on record.
Era check
Optical track with Dolby Digital blocks on 35mm stock is consistent with a 1999 release print or trailer, since that format was in use then.
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
