Warner Bros. handled distribution for Pokémon: The First Movie in North America, bringing Nintendo's sprawling franchise to theaters at the height of its 1990s popularity. Released in November 1999, the film arrived on a wave of merchandising, trading cards, and a television series that had turned children's culture upside down. For a generation of young viewers, this was their first trip to a movie theater for a story built entirely around characters they already loved. The trailer itself functioned as a promise to that audience, assembling the roster of creatures and the human trainer who held them together into a single preview of the adventure ahead.
This cell gathers Ash Ketchum alongside Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Scyther, Nidoqueen, and Gyarados, a lineup that reads like a cross-section of the franchise's early appeal. Ash stands as the series anchor, the trainer whose bond with Pikachu became the emotional center of the entire property. Trailer cells like this one were built to introduce scale and variety, showing collectors and fans alike the breadth of Pokémon on display before the feature even began. For archivists, a frame holding this many named characters together represents a dense cross-section of the film's promotional identity.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm positive release-print strip of Pokémon: The First Movie Trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three full frames of near-identical picture.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no tears or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with a dashed blue-and-white line above them; no Dolby Digital data blocks are visible between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-green base along the edges with a neutral picture dye; no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the strip looks clean and unmarked.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animated characters are consistent with Pokémon: The First Movie.
Era check
Consistent with a 1999 release print: 35mm positive stock with a variable-area optical track and a dashed line suggesting a Dolby/SR-style analog format.
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 000069776
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
