Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 through Warner Bros., riding the crest of the franchise's explosive American debut via Nintendo and the television series that had swept through syndication a year earlier. The theatrical trailer predates the feature's own release, serving as the advance herald for a cultural event that brought Pokémon fully into multiplexes and introduced Mewtwo to a generation raised on Game Boy cartridges and trading cards. For collectors, trailer material from this period occupies a distinct niche, capturing the marketing apparatus that announced the franchise's cinematic ambitions before audiences had seen a frame of the finished film.
This cell preserves a clone sequence featuring Charizard and Blastoise, two of the original 151 Pokémon whose popularity made them cornerstones of the brand's early identity. Charizard remains among the most sought-after characters in all Pokémon collecting, prized for its dragon-adjacent design and competitive standing in the card game, while Blastoise rounds out the starter trio's representation here. The cloning concept ties directly to the film's central plot device, making this a thematically loaded moment within promotional material, a trailer fragment built to tease the narrative stakes awaiting ticket buyers in 1999.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three consecutive frames, with a partial fourth frame visible at the left edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes; no torn, missing or stretched perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with a dashed digital timecode-style line above it; the squares in the gaps between the lower perforations look like Dolby Digital data blocks.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a pale blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fade or red shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animated style is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: analogue optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks and a timecode line were standard on 35mm theatrical prints of that period.
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 000069764
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
