Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American theaters and playgrounds alike. The trailer campaign preceding it was engineered to stoke anticipation for the franchise's leap from television to the big screen, teasing the dark, clone-centric plot built around the genetic experiment Mewtwo. For a generation introduced to Pokémon through Saturday morning broadcasts, this theatrical debut marked a cultural milestone, cementing the franchise's reach into mainstream American entertainment.
This cell preserves a trailer moment built around Blastoise, one of the three original starter evolutions and a longtime favorite among collectors for its stature as a powerhouse combatant. Its appearance here ties directly to the film's central premise, the cloning of famous Pokémon by the antagonist Mewtwo, a plot thread that gave the movie its dramatic weight. As a trailer fragment, this cell functioned to entice audiences with glimpses of familiar creatures recast in an unfamiliar, higher stakes context, blending nostalgia with the promise of something darker.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames plus a sliver of a fourth at the left edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, rounded-rectangle holes that look evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear to faintly blue-tinted base, with a neutral dye image showing saturated blues and reds and no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; the only mark is a reflection ring on the right frame, which is the phone camera on the base.
Picture
Positive colour image, three consecutive near-identical frames from one held shot, and the animated style is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print: optical analogue track plus Dolby Digital data blocks matches the format of a 1999 theatrical 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 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 000069754
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
