Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American playgrounds and television schedules. The film adapted the Japanese original with new footage for Western audiences and became a genuine box office event, proving that the franchise could move beyond cartridges and cards into theaters. Its trailer campaign was part of that push, built to pull in both devoted fans and newcomers curious about the phenomenon, and material from those promotional reels remains a touchstone for collectors tracing the brand's early cinematic ambitions.
This cell comes from the trailer's stand-off sequence at Mewtwo's stadium, the setting built around Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose moral conflict anchors the film's narrative stakes. As a trailer fragment, this piece was created to entice rather than narrate, offering audiences a glimpse of confrontation and tension without the full context of the story. Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most sought-after figures, a character whose introduction carried weight far beyond typical Pokémon battles, and collectors prize material tied to this pivotal stadium confrontation as an early marker of that character's cinematic debut.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of the Pokémon: The First Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle punches that look clean and uniform along the whole strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, with two parallel waveform tracks and a dashed cyan-and-white line above them; no data blocks visible between the perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Neutral to slightly warm base, with a pale blue border along both edges; the dye image looks saturated, with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices visible across the three frames.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and the animated look fits the film on record.
Era check
A two-track variable-area optical soundtrack on a colour positive print is consistent with a 1999 theatrical release print, though Dolby Digital data is not seen between the perforations.
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 000069810
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
