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OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE FILM AUTHENTICATION
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell 000069054 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEPokémon: The First Movie Trailer
SCENEGyarados
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE ID000069054

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television momentum into theaters, riding the first wave of Pokémania that swept American pop culture. Promotional trailers for the film circulated widely in advance of release, screened before other family films and broadcast on television, building anticipation among a young audience eager to see Pokémon battles rendered on the big screen for the first time. These trailer fragments survive today as artifacts of that marketing push, preserved on 35mm film stock from the era's theatrical distribution.

This cell carries Gyarados, one of the franchise's most recognizable Water-type Pokémon, prized by collectors for its dramatic design and its popularity among the earliest generation of creatures. Its presence in a trailer cell points to the film's effort to showcase formidable, large-scale Pokémon early on, signaling spectacle to audiences before the feature itself unspooled. A trailer cell like this one represents a single frame excerpted from promotional reels, distinct from the finished film, offering collectors a tangible piece of the marketing campaign that introduced Gyarados to moviegoers anticipating the 1999 release.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

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

Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame along both edges, with four frames visible on the strip, the first and last partly cut off at the edges of the capture.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes, no tears or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs as two wavy white-on-black lines beside the picture, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Blue edge print reads backwards as '2383 207 084 0 10 K'ODAK 17 1999', which is Kodak stock and key numbering with a 1999 year code.
Base & colour
The base looks neutral to slightly light-blue at the edges, and the dye image keeps strong blues, whites and pinks with no obvious fade or colour shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible on these frames.
Picture
Positive image, four consecutive frames of one continuous shot, and the animated look is consistent with the film on record, which is a Pokémon feature trailer.
Era check
Consistent: Dolby Digital blocks plus an optical track, Kodak 2383 print stock and a 1999 edge code all fit a 1999 theatrical release print.
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