Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television momentum onto the big screen, riding the wave of Pokémania that had gripped American audiences. The trailer itself was a cultural moment in its own right, circulating in theaters and on television to build anticipation for Mewtwo's story and the promise of seeing beloved creatures animated at feature scale. For many young collectors of the era, this trailer was their first glimpse of the film, making surviving theatrical reel fragments from this period scarce and desirable.
This cell gathers an unusually wide roster: Mew, the rare and mythical centerpiece of the film's mythology, appears alongside Gyarados, Rapidash, Ninetales, Hitmonlee, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Vaporeon, and Nidoqueen. A grouping like this suggests the trailer's effort to showcase the breadth of the Pokémon world in a single promotional sweep, name recognition drawing viewers toward the main event. Mew's presence anchors the frame's significance, tying it directly to the film's central plot and giving the cell lasting appeal among those who collect pieces tied to the character's earliest cinematic exposure.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip for 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 end.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no tears or missing perforations in this capture.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted base at both edges, with a neutral dye image that is saturated and shows no red shift or fading.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the speckled grain at the edges and between the lower perforations looks like the film's own texture, not damage.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the cartoon style fits the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Dual optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks fits 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 000069821
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
