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OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE FILM AUTHENTICATION
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell 000069088 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEPokémon: The First Movie Trailer
SCENEGyarados
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE ID000069088

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, released during the height of Pokémon mania in the West. The accompanying trailer campaign was part of a massive marketing push, splicing footage from the film with promotional material to build anticipation for Mewtwo's story on the big screen. This era cemented Pokémon as a cross-media phenomenon, and surviving trailer reels from that release window are scarce artifacts of a cultural moment rather than the feature film itself.

This cell comes from that trailer reel and bears the name Gyarados, one of the franchise's most recognizable and sought-after Pokémon among collectors for its scale and presence in the mythology. As a trailer cell, its purpose was promotional: a glimpse meant to stir recognition and excitement ahead of the film's release, not a narrative beat from the finished picture. For collectors, a Gyarados appearance in this context holds value as a piece of the promotional apparatus surrounding the franchise's theatrical debut, a fragment of the campaign rather than the story proper.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

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

Gauge
Four perforations per frame on both edges, which is the 35mm layout; the strip holds four frames, with the outer two partly cut off at the left and right.
Perforations
Four per frame along both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shaped and cleanly punched, with no torn, stretched or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track of several wavy white bands runs beside the picture, and Dolby Digital-style data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; the frames look clean, with no scratches, cue marks or splices visible.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames show the same moment, so they read as consecutive frames of one shot, and the blue-toned animated art fits an animated Pokémon trailer.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: an analogue optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks suits a 1999 35mm trailer, and the saturated dye image shows no obvious stock mismatch.
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