Warner Bros. released Pokémon: The First Movie in November 1999, bringing Nintendo's phenomenon to American theaters at the height of Pokémania. The film adapted Mewtwo Strikes Back, the franchise's darkest early entry, and the theatrical trailer campaign that preceded it was essential marketing, building anticipation among a generation discovering the games, cards and television series simultaneously. This strip of 35mm preserves a piece of that promotional reel, a physical artifact from the moment Pokémon crossed into mainstream American cinema.
This cell captures the promotional introduction of Mewtwo alongside its cloned Pokémon army, a sequence central to the film's premise of artificial creation and conflict. Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most sought-after characters, prized by collectors for its origin as a genetically engineered psychic type and its role as the film's antagonist. Gyarados, Scyther, Nidoqueen and Ninetales appear here as members of that cloned roster, reinforcing the trailer's purpose: to announce scale and stakes before audiences ever saw the finished film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds four frames, with a fifth cut off at the right edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or damaged holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs along the lower edge, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations. No DTS or SDDS marks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
The clear base has a light blue tint and the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; one round ring on a single frame is the phone camera reflecting off the base and is ignored.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames repeat one near-identical shot in sequence, and the animated Pokémon artwork is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Optical track with Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations is consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print, which suits a 1999 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
