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OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE FILM AUTHENTICATION
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell 000069004 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEPokémon: The First Movie Trailer
SCENEClone Blastoise
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE ID000069004

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of a cultural wave that had swept American television and toy aisles alike. The trailer campaign preceding the feature was a cultural event in its own right, building anticipation for the franchise's leap to the big screen. Promotional 35mm material from this run is scarce by nature, as trailer stock saw limited distribution and even more limited survival once theatrical runs ended.

This cell preserves a moment from that trailer featuring Blastoise in its cloned form, a plot thread central to the film's narrative about genetic duplication and identity. The clone storyline gave the original 150 Pokémon new dramatic weight, and Blastoise, one of the franchise's three starter evolutions, carried particular recognition among early collectors and fans. A trailer cell like this one captures a promotional fragment rather than a scene from the finished feature, making it a record of how the movie was marketed before audiences ever saw it in full.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).

Gauge
35mm: four perforations span each frame along both edges, and the strip holds four frames, with a fifth partly cut off at the right end.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle and cleanly punched, with no torn, missing or stretched holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted clear base at both edges, with a neutral, unfaded dye image showing saturated purples, pinks and blues.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image, four consecutive frames of one near-static shot, consistent with an animated trailer for the film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks fits 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 Capture As received
The film strip as photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size