Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 through Warner Bros. and Nintendo's marketing machine at the height of Pokémania, when the franchise was crossing from handheld games and television into American multiplexes for the first time. The trailer that preceded it was a cultural event in its own right, screened ahead of countless features and burned into the memory of a generation introduced to Mewtwo, clones, and the stakes of a franchise suddenly taking itself seriously. This piece of 35mm film is a surviving fragment of that promotional reach, a physical trace of how the movie was sold to audiences before anyone had seen it.
The cell called Pikachu Falling places the franchise's two central figures, Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, at a moment collectors prize precisely because it carries weight in the name alone. A falling Pikachu suggests peril, a break in the usual partnership of trainer and companion that defined the series' appeal, and trailers built their pull on exactly these flashes of jeopardy. As a trailer cell rather than a frame from the finished film, it represents the raw promotional apparatus itself, the strip of celluloid once threaded through projectors nationwide to draw crowds into theaters for Pikachu and Ash's biggest screen outing yet.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Kodak 2383 release print trailer of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout, with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three full frames plus partial frames at each end.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with rounded-rectangle holes and no tears or torn edges visible.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Blue edge text reads, as seen, "2383 207 084 0 10 KODAK 17 1999", with a small square mark at one end.
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible across the frames or the soundtrack area.
Picture
Positive image; the frames run consecutively as one shot, and the animated character design and look are consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Kodak 2383 print stock with a 1999 edge date, optical tracks and Dolby Digital blocks all fit a late-1990s release print of the film on record.
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
