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OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE FILM AUTHENTICATION
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell 000069031 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEPokémon: The First Movie Trailer
SCENEMeowth Close-Up
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE ID000069031

FILM NOTES

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in late 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American playgrounds and television schedules. The trailer campaign that preceded it was engineered to pull in both longtime fans of the anime and parents unfamiliar with the phenomenon, promising a theatrical event built around Mewtwo's origin story alongside a Pikachu short. For a franchise built on merchandising, the trailer itself became a collectible marker of the moment before the film's release, a preview of what was then uncertain box office territory for a television property making its leap to the big screen.

This cell preserves a trailer moment built around Meowth, the wisecracking, upright-walking Pokémon affiliated with Team Rocket and known for breaking from the usual animal-sound mold by speaking in full sentences. Collectors prize Meowth for his comic relief role and his crossover appeal beyond battle-focused Pokémon. A close-up framing in a trailer context signals a moment meant to anchor the character's personality for audiences before the feature even began, a single still drawn from film meant to promote recognition and anticipation.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

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

Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, the 35mm layout; the strip holds roughly three full frames plus a partial fourth at the right edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched, with the lower row sitting in the stripes beside the sound area.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run in a wavy white band between the picture and the lower perforations; speckled grey blocks sit between the lower perforations, consistent with Dolby Digital data.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Base shows a light blue tint along both edges; the dye image looks saturated with deep blues and purples and no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; frames run consecutively as one shot, matching an anime character close-up in the style of Pokémon, so no mismatch with the film on record.
Era check
Analogue optical tracks plus Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations fit a late-1990s 35mm release trailer, matching the 1999 date 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 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