Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of a cultural wave that had already conquered Game Boys, trading cards, and Saturday morning television. It was the franchise's first theatrical outing in the West, pairing the animated feature with a Pikachu short and a marketing blitz that made it one of the defining kid-culture events of its year. For a generation of young viewers, this was their introduction to Pokémon on the big screen, and the promotional material that circulated beforehand, including trailer footage struck to 35mm, became part of how the film was anticipated and remembered.
This cell comes from the trailer reel for that release, and its subject is Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon who serves as the film's central antagonist and philosophical core. Mewtwo's presence in a trailer frame carries weight beyond simple promotion, since the character's origin story, questioning its own creation and purpose, became the emotional spine of the entire picture. Collectors of early Pokémon film ephemera prize material tied to Mewtwo specifically, as the character anchors the franchise's sole attempt at a darker, more introspective narrative, making any surviving trailer fragment a tangible piece of that theatrical rollout.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames side by side with slivers of neighbouring frames at the cut ends.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, rounded-rectangle holes that look evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or damaged edges seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations; no DTS or SDDS seen.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted base with a neutral-to-cool dye image; the blue picture and clear edges show no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; a few tiny dust specks sit near the lower edge.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the drawn character and style fit the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: an analog optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks suits a 1999 theatrical trailer on 35mm.
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 000069817
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
