Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in late 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing muscle, riding the crest of the franchise's explosive American debut. Built around Mewtwo's origin story, the film served as a bridge between the television series and theatrical ambition, introducing a generation of young viewers to their first big-screen Pokémon experience. Its promotional trailer run was relentless, airing across networks and cementing the film as a cultural touchstone of the era, a moment when Pikachu's face was arguably as recognized as any cartoon character in the country.
This cell preserves a trailer moment built around Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, the franchise's central pairing and its most enduring commercial symbol. Ash, the series' perpetual trainer protagonist, and Pikachu, its mascot and emotional anchor, appear here in a sequence described plainly as falling, a dramatic beat suited to trailer construction meant to signal stakes and peril ahead of release. Collectors prize material featuring this duo above nearly all other Pokémon imagery, since their bond defined the property's appeal. As a trailer artifact, the cell represents the promotional machinery that introduced this story to theaters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds four frames, the outer two partly cropped by the edge of the panel.
Perforations
Four perforations per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with rounded-rectangle shapes and no visible tears or missing holes.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track, apparently two tracks, runs in the band beside the picture inside the perforations; a speckled band sits between the perforations on the lower edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a pale blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral to slightly warm and saturated, with no fading seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; the frames look clean, with no scratches, cue marks or splices visible, only a few ring reflections on one frame.
Picture
Positive colour image; the four frames run consecutively as one shot of near-identical animation, and the cartoon style fits Pokémon: The First Movie.
Era check
Consistent with a 1999 release print, since a 35mm base carrying an optical soundtrack and a saturated positive dye image is typical of that period.
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
