Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in late 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing muscle, riding the crest of the franchise's explosive American debut. The trailer that preceded it in theaters served as many young audiences' first glimpse of Mewtwo and the feature-length ambitions behind a property that had, until then, lived mostly on television and Game Boy screens. For a generation of collectors, these promotional reels mark the moment Pokémon crossed into cinema, making surviving trailer material a notable artifact of that transition.
This cell preserves a trailer moment built around Ash Ketchum alongside Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur, the central trainer paired with three of the franchise's most recognizable early companions. A trailer cell like this exists to introduce or tease rather than narrate, offering a condensed promise of the adventure ahead. Grouping Ash with this particular trio reflects the show's foundational roster, the starter lineup and signature partner that defined Pokémon's first wave of popularity, making this grouping especially desirable to collectors tracing the franchise's earliest cinematic marketing.
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 frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with a dashed line above it, and the outer-edge perforation gaps look speckled, so a Dolby Digital data area is possible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-green tint on the base edges, neutral clear between the perforations, with the dye image looking full-colour and not obviously faded.
Projection history
None seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image, three consecutive frames showing one shot with no visible change between them, and the animated look is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus the speckled area between the lower perforations fits a late-1990s release print with digital sound, which suits a 1999 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 000069781
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
