Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros., Nintendo, and 4Kids Entertainment, riding the first great wave of Pokémania to hit American theaters. Adapted from the Japanese original, it introduced Mewtwo to a mass audience and became a cultural event in its own right, pairing feature animation with the Pikachu's Vacation short and a promotional push that saturated television. The trailer campaign itself is part of that history, a marketing artifact from the height of the franchise's theatrical ambitions.
This cell comes from that promotional reel, built around Mewtwo and its cloned Pokémon, Gyarados, Nidoqueen, and Scyther. Mewtwo stands as the film's central figure, a genetically engineered Pokémon whose existence drives the story's conflict, and the clones represent his manufactured army, a plot point central to the movie's themes of identity and creation. Trailer cells like this one circulate among collectors precisely because they predate the feature itself, offering a frame of the franchise's earliest theatrical push rather than the finished film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm positive release print of the Pokémon: The First Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout, four perforations per frame along both edges, with four frames visible on the strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes, no tears or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A twin variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted base at this size, with the dye image looking saturated and neutral, no fading or colour shift seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible, only a camera reflection on one frame.
Picture
Positive image, four consecutive near-identical frames of one static shot, with character artwork consistent with an animated Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a 1999 release print, since the optical soundtrack and saturated positive image suit a late-1990s 35mm trailer print.
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
