Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in American theaters in November 1999, distributed by Warner Bros. after Nintendo and Pikachu Project '98 brought the franchise's inaugural feature to the West. Riding the peak of Pokémania, the film paired the Mewtwo Strikes Back storyline with the Pichu short Pikachu's Vacation, and its promotional trailer run was a major marketing push that introduced American audiences to the wider roster of creatures beyond the television series' core cast. The trailer itself became a cultural artifact of that crossover moment, a bridge between the Saturday morning show and the big screen spectacle Warner Bros. was selling.
This cell preserves a strip from that trailer reel, grouping Hitmonlee, Venusaur, Rhyhorn, Sandslash, and Scyther together as a single assembled moment. Each of these figures carries its own standing among collectors, representing early-generation designs that defined the franchise's first wave of popularity. A grouping like this, drawn from promotional material rather than the feature itself, speaks to how the trailer worked to showcase the breadth of the Pokémon roster to a theatrical audience, offering a quick assembly of familiar names meant to stir recognition and anticipation ahead of the film's release.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm positive release trailer print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds four frames, with a fourth frame cut off at the right end.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle punches, cleanly cut with no tears or missing holes visible.
Soundtrack
Two white variable-area optical tracks run along the bottom edge, inside the perforations; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode line or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted clear base at both edges; dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; a few tiny specks on the panel and base are the only marks.
Picture
Positive colour image; the four frames run consecutively as one shot with a small movement between them, and the animated characters are consistent with Pokémon: The First Movie.
Era check
A two-track variable-area optical soundtrack on a positive 35mm print is consistent with a 1999 release trailer, though no digital sound data is visible in this capture.
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
