Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television and card-game momentum onto the big screen, backed by a promotional campaign that saturated theaters and television alike. The trailer itself became a cultural touchstone of the era, introducing American audiences to the film's darker, more ambitious tone before most viewers had any sense of its plot. For collectors of 1990s media ephemera, a surviving trailer cell represents a tangible piece of that marketing blitz, a physical artifact from the celluloid prints that circulated through theaters nationwide that November.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer, built around Mewtwo, the clone Pokémon whose creation and rebellion drive the film's story and whose design remains among the franchise's most collected. The phrase "Mewtwo Attacks" points to the character's aggressive, central role in the advertising push, the moment meant to establish him as the film's formidable antagonist. As a trailer cell rather than a frame from the feature itself, it belongs to the promotional run of prints, a piece of the campaign built specifically to draw audiences into theaters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The First Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm, with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds four frames, each shown as a tall, narrow picture area.
Perforations
Four perforations per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes and no visible tears.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical soundtrack runs along the lower edge, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
The clear base reads light blue along the edges; the dye image looks saturated with deep blacks and no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; the four frames run consecutively as one shot, and the animated cartoon style is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: a variable-area optical track combined with Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations matches 1999 theatrical 35mm practice.
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
