Warner Bros. handled the 1999 theatrical rollout of Pokémon: The First Movie in North America, importing the project from Japan's wildly popular television and gaming franchise at the height of Pokémania. The trailer campaign that preceded it was a cultural event in its own right, running ahead of the feature in cinemas and on broadcast television to prime a generation of young audiences for Mewtwo's origin story. These promotional reels, cut from 35mm trailer stock, circulated separately from release prints and were often junked after their run, making surviving fragments a window into how the studio chose to sell the film before anyone had seen it in full.
This cell preserves a glimpse of the Venusaur clone, one of the genetically duplicated Pokémon central to the film's plot and a favorite among collectors drawn to the movie's darker, more ambitious science fiction premise. As a trailer frame, its purpose was to tease rather than explain, offering audiences a single charged moment meant to signal scale and strangeness without context. For fans of the franchise's early feature film era, a Venusaur clone fragment represents a tangible piece of that promotional machinery, tied directly to one of the saga's more unusual creative swings.
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, with three full frames visible on the strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle shape, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint along the edges; the dye image looks saturated, with no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the strip looks clean.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames are near-identical consecutive frames of one shot, and the animated style fits the film on record.
Era check
Optical tracks plus Dolby Digital blocks on a clear tinted base fit a late-1990s 35mm release print, as expected for 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 000069847
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
