Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in late 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of the Pokémon franchise's first great wave of American popularity. The trailer that preceded it was essential marketing scaffolding, built to convert a generation raised on the television series and trading cards into ticket buyers. It promised spectacle beyond the small screen, pairing familiar characters with a grander, more cinematic sense of scale, and it remains a touchstone for collectors tracing the franchise's theatrical debut.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer centered on Pikachu and Charizard, the two most recognizable figures in the Pokémon roster. Pikachu jumping speaks to the character's established energy and appeal as mascot, while Charizard's attack signals the trailer's effort to showcase conflict and power alongside the series' lighter charm. As a trailer cell, this frame belonged to the promotional reel itself, not the finished feature, making it a scarce physical artifact of how the film was first sold to audiences.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds four frames in two pairs of near-identical images.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no visible tears or missing holes.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture as two wavy bands, with a speckled data-like band between the lower perforations that could be digital data; not clearly resolvable.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-teal tint along the edges; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, 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 or edges.
Picture
Positive colour image. Frames come in consecutive near-duplicate pairs from two shots, and the yellow character and fiery effects fit a Pokémon trailer.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: an optical track plus a digital data band is typical of that era, and the animated content fits.
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
