Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's booming marketing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American playgrounds and television schedules alike. Adapted from the Japanese original, it marked the franchise's leap to the big screen, and its trailer campaign was engineered to pull in both longtime fans of the games and newcomers drawn by the cultural wave. The film's success at the box office proved Pokémon could carry a theatrical run, cementing its place as a defining piece of late-nineties entertainment history.
This piece comes from the trailer reel itself, a promotional strip meant to stoke anticipation ahead of release, built around Mewtwo's stadium setting and the stand-off at its center. Mewtwo, the franchise's original genetically engineered Pokémon, remains one of its most sought-after characters, prized for the gravity it carries as the film's central antagonist and philosophical centerpiece. A stand-off implies tension and confrontation, themes central to the character's arc, and trailer material tied to such a pivotal figure holds particular appeal for collectors tracing the franchise's earliest cinematic marketing.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm positive release print of the Pokémon: The First Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which reads as 35mm; the strip holds three full frames, with a sliver of a fourth at the left edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and uniform.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with two to three wavy bands, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a pale blue tint along both edges; the dye image looks warm and yellow-leaning, with no obvious fading.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the strip looks clean on the panel.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and the animated artwork is consistent with a Pokémon film, not a different title.
Era check
Optical analog track plus Dolby Digital blocks on a colour positive 35mm print fits a 1999 theatrical release print or trailer of this film.
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 000069808
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
