Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television momentum into theaters, a gamble that paid off with one of the strongest opening weekends of its season. Promotional trailers circulated widely in advance of release, building anticipation through fast cuts of the film's new, darker premise: a lab-born Pokémon seeking its place in the world. For a generation raised on the games and cartoon, the trailer was often the first glimpse of the feature's scale and stakes, making these strips a touchstone of the era's marketing history.
This cell draws from that trailer and gathers Mewtwo alongside Gyarados, Scyther, and Nidoqueen, the genetically cloned Pokémon central to the film's conflict. Mewtwo anchors any such grouping as the franchise's most sought character from this period, prized for its origin as a scientific creation wrestling with questions of identity and purpose. Paired here with its cloned companions, the cell preserves a moment built around assembled strength and uncertain loyalty, the kind of ensemble shot trailers use to signal a story larger than its predecessors.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm positive release trailer print of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, consistent with 35mm; the strip holds one full frame, with slivers of the neighbouring frames at top and bottom.
Perforations
Four perforations are visible per edge across this one frame, rounded-rectangle in shape, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
Two parallel white variable-area optical tracks run between the picture and the lower perforations; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
The base reads as a cool, neutral-to-bluish tint under the backlight, with dye colours looking intact and no clear red shift or fading.
Projection history
A speckled, grainy texture shows along the edge margins and perforation areas; no distinct scratches, cue marks or splices are seen in this single frame.
Picture
Positive colour image of a single frame, so consecutive-shot continuity cannot be checked; the animated character style fits the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Two-track optical audio on a colour positive print is consistent with a 1999 35mm release print or trailer, though Dolby Digital blocks are not visible between the perforations.
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 in partnership with National Film Vault, 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.
CROWN SERIAL 000069750
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
