Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American schoolyards and Saturday morning television. Adapted from the Japanese feature Mewtwo Strikes Back, it introduced a generation of young viewers to their first taste of franchise cinema, pairing familiar television characters with a darker, more mythic storyline centered on cloning and identity. The theatrical trailer that preceded it served as many fans' earliest glimpse of the film, a promotional artifact in its own right, built to stir anticipation months before release.
This 35mm cell preserves a trailer moment built around Mew, the rare and ancient Pokémon whose genetic material gave rise to Mewtwo, the film's central antagonist and tragic counterpart. Their pairing here speaks directly to the movie's core mythology, the original and its engineered copy, origin and consequence bound together in a single frame of promotional film. For collectors, Mew carries particular weight as one of the franchise's most coveted and mysterious figures, and a trailer cell naming both characters together marks an early, foundational piece of the film's marketing history.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, the 35mm layout; the strip holds three full frames side by side.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no visible tears or stretching.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, with Dolby Digital data blocks in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-grey tint along the edges; the dye image looks neutral with strong purples, no fading or colour shift seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size apart from a few tiny specks; no scratches, cue marks or splices visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames of one shot with near-identical content, matching an animated Pokémon subject consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital data between the perforations is consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print, matching 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 000069792
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
