Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 from Warner Bros., riding the crest of the franchise's explosive North American debut. Backed by 4Kids Entertainment's dubbing and a marketing push that treated the film as a cultural event for young audiences, it became one of the highest grossing anime releases in U.S. history. The trailer campaign preceding the film was itself a touchstone of late-90s Saturday morning television and theatrical pre-show culture, building anticipation for Mewtwo's introduction as the franchise's most formidable original creation.
This cell preserves a moment from that promotional reel, showing Mewtwo in a state of preparation before conflict. Mewtwo stands as the film's central antagonist-turned-tragic-figure, a genetically engineered Pokémon whose power and isolation made it an instant icon among collectors. A trailer cell like this one captures the film's marketing apparatus at work, the frame chosen specifically to sell tension and scale to audiences ahead of release. For collectors, it represents an early physical artifact of Mewtwo's cultural arrival.
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 partly cut off at the right edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes and no tears or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track of two wavy parallel white-and-black lines runs along the lower edge, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a slight blue-cyan tint from the light panel; the blue dye image looks saturated and shows no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size, apart from faint vertical lines near the right of each frame.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames run consecutively as one shot, but the capture is too small to confirm the frames match the film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations is consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print, which fits 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
