Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's push to translate a television and trading card phenomenon into a theatrical event. Riding the crest of Pokémania in North America, the film paired the Mewtwo Strikes Back feature with the short Pikachu's Vacation, introducing audiences to a cloned Pokémon's existential battle while cementing the franchise's box office power. Its trailer campaign was a cultural marker in its own right, previewing the saga to millions of young fans and setting expectations for what remains one of the most profitable anime adaptations ever released in the West.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer: the Pokémon logo title card, the visual signature that opened the promotional reel and told audiences exactly what they were about to see. Logo cells like this are prized by collectors because they anchor a franchise's identity to a specific release print, offering a tangible piece of the marketing history surrounding the film's theatrical debut. As a trailer fragment rather than a feature print, it represents the promise and buildup that preceded Pikachu, Mewtwo, and the rest of the film's story.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three complete frames, plus partial perforations at both ends.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no tearing or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A twin variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, and the small speckled squares between the lower perforations are consistent with Dolby Digital data blocks.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted base along the edges; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames of the same static Pokémon logo card on a blue burst background, matching the film on record's trailer.
Era check
The twin optical track with Dolby Digital blocks on a 35mm release print matches the late-1990s theatrical format 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 000069854
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
