Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 from Warner Bros., riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept through American theaters and playgrounds alike. Adapted and expanded from Japanese animation, it introduced a generation to the franchise's first true cinematic outing, pairing a theatrical feature with a Pikachu short. The marketing campaign leaned heavily on trailers to build anticipation, and this period produced a wave of promotional ephemera, including 35mm trailer cells, now sought after as artifacts of a cultural moment when the franchise crossed from television and trading cards into mainstream American cinema.
This cell preserves a frame from the film's trailer, built around Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon who serves as the movie's central figure and antagonist. As a trailer cell, its purpose was to draw audiences into theaters ahead of release, and Mewtwo's presence here reflects the character's role as the face of the film's early promotion. Collectors prize Mewtwo material for the character's standing as one of the franchise's most significant original creations, a figure whose story anchored the first theatrical outing and whose image was central to the campaign that introduced the film to American audiences.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames with a sliver of a fourth at the right.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track, two tracks side by side, runs between the picture and the lower perforations; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS line or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-cyan base with a neutral, stable dye image; no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible on the three frames or the track.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one shot with only slight movement between them, and the animated art is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
A two-track variable-area optical soundtrack with an animated positive image is consistent with a 1999 35mm release trailer print, though the missing digital tracks mean this is only one possible configuration.
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 000069816
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
