Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania as the franchise crossed from television into theaters for the first time. The trailer campaign that preceded it was essential groundwork, teasing Mewtwo's origin story to a fanbase still hungry for any glimpse of the expanding Pokémon universe. These early promotional strips carry their own collecting niche, distinct from the feature itself, since they circulated in far smaller quantities and were often discarded once their marketing purpose had passed.
This cell draws from that trailer reel and centers on Meowth, the scheming, talking member of Team Rocket whose comic relief made him a standout among the franchise's rotating cast. A Viking ship setting suggests one of the trio's elaborate disguise schemes, a recurring gag where their ambitions outpace their resources. Meowth cells are sought after precisely because he anchors so many of these visual punchlines, and a trailer fragment preserves a moment the studio chose to market before audiences ever saw the finished film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame on both edges, which fits 35mm; the strip holds four frames, the leftmost and rightmost partly cut off at the edges of the capture.
Perforations
Four per frame along the top edge and four along the bottom edge, rounded-rectangle shapes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no tears or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs along the lower edge, and grey speckled Dolby Digital data blocks sit between the lower-edge perforations; no DTS timecode or SDDS tracks visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base reads light blue-cyan at the edges; the dye image shows saturated blues, oranges and purples with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices visible across the four frames.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames repeat the same shot with no change between them, and the animated cartoon look fits the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks matches a late-1990s 35mm release print, so it is consistent with a 1999 trailer for Pokémon: The First Movie.
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
