Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in late 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania at its peak in North America. The trailer circulated in theaters ahead of the feature, building anticipation for a story centered on Mewtwo, the lab-born Pokémon whose origin and inner conflict gave the franchise an unexpectedly somber core. For a brand built on bright adventure, this early marketing push signaled something darker and more ambitious, and it remains a touchstone for collectors tracking the franchise's theatrical debut in the United States.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer centered on Mewtwo's eyes. As the film's central creation, Mewtwo carries outsized weight among collectors, representing the one Pokémon built not for companionship but for power and identity. A close-up of the eyes within a trailer reel suggests the marketing team's intent to foreground Mewtwo's presence and gravity before the feature even opened, using a single focused moment to carry the character's weight into audiences' expectations. Trailer cells like this one capture promotional history rather than the film proper, valuable for documenting how a character was introduced to the public.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds about four and a half frames, two of them complete.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and uniform.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the perforations on the soundtrack edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-teal tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral to blue with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the strip is smooth and flat apart from a gentle curve.
Picture
Positive image; the frames run consecutively as one dark shot with blue shapes, but nothing in this strip confirms the film on record.
Era check
Dolby Digital blocks beside a dual optical track fit a late-1990s 35mm release print, so the strip is consistent with a 1999 trailer.
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
