Released in 1999 by Warner Bros. in partnership with Nintendo and Pokémon USA, Pokémon: The First Movie brought the franchise's television and card game momentum to American theaters at the height of Pokémania. The trailer campaign that preceded it was essential to that crossover, introducing mainstream audiences to Mewtwo, the film's central genetically engineered Pokémon, and promising a darker, more cinematic tone than the Saturday morning series. For a generation of young collectors and moviegoers, this was the advertising that turned a television phenomenon into a theatrical event, making trailer ephemera from this release historically significant.
This cell preserves a moment built around Meowth, the wisecracking, talking Pokémon best known for breaking from his species' usual silence, paired here with Mewtwo, the film's enigmatic antagonist. A close-up designation suggests the trailer's editors chose Meowth as a focal point worth isolating, a nod to his popularity as the franchise's most distinctly voiced character. Trailer cells like this one offer collectors a piece of the promotional machinery itself, the frames used to sell audiences on the feature before it ever reached theaters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release print strip from the Pokémon: The First Movie trailer.
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three full frames, with partial frames cut at the left and right ends.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A twin variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations; the gaps between the lower perforations carry grainy Dolby Digital data blocks, with a thin dashed line above.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-cyan tint at the edges; the dye image looks vivid and neutral, with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the strip looks clean on the panel, with only a few tiny dust specks on the background.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one close-up shot with slight movement between them, and the animated style fits the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Optical track combined with Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations is consistent with a 1999 35mm release print or trailer print from that period.
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 000069830
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
