Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in the fall of 1999, riding the first great wave of American Pokémon mania. Warner Bros. distributed the film theatrically, pairing it with a Pikachu short to maximize the pull on young audiences who had already made the franchise a cultural fixture through games, cards, and television. The trailer campaign preceding the feature was itself a major marketing event, running in theaters months ahead of release and stoking anticipation for Mewtwo, a character built specifically for the film as a darker, more ambiguous figure than the show's roster.
This piece of 35mm comes from that trailer, isolating Mewtwo in close-up, a framing choice that trailers often use to introduce a new or central character on their own terms, apart from the ensemble. As the film's engineered antagonist and emotional center, Mewtwo was the figure meant to carry audiences beyond simple creature-collecting into something weightier. A close-up cell speaks to that intent, giving collectors a direct link to the character's earliest theatrical promotion and his outsized role in the franchise's crossover into feature film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds about three full frames plus partial frames at each end.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no tears or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track with two parallel white waveform lines runs between the picture and the lower perforations; the lower gaps between perforations show only grainy grey texture, no Dolby Digital blocks.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted clear base at the edges; the dye image looks cool blue-violet with deep blacks and no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the strip is smooth, apart from a camera reflection on one frame that is ignored.
Picture
Positive image, three frames in a row that appear consecutive from one shot, and the animated style is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
A two-track optical track with grey Dolby Digital-style texture in the lower perforation gaps is consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release trailer 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 CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
