Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television and trading card momentum onto the big screen, backed by a promotional campaign that saturated American media for months beforehand. The trailer itself became a cultural artifact in its own right, previewing Mewtwo's origin story while leaning heavily on the broader roster of Pokémon to signal scale and spectacle to audiences who may have known the property only in passing. For a generation of kids, this footage was often their first glimpse of the film before it opened.
This cell gathers an unusually full cast within a single strip: Mew alongside Gyarados, Hitmonlee, Ninetales, Rapidash, Nidoqueen, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Hitmonchan, and Vaporeon. Mew's presence carries particular weight for collectors, given its mythical status and its narrative link to Mewtwo, the film's central figure. A trailer cell like this one exists to sell breadth and excitement ahead of release, assembling familiar faces to draw in viewers who recognized these creatures from games and cards. Having so many named Pokémon sharing one frame of film makes this a dense, ensemble-driven piece of promotional history.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout: perforations run along both edges at four per frame, and the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track (two wavy tracks) runs beside the picture, and speckled Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base reads pale blue-green at the edges, and the dye image looks neutral with strong saturated colour and no visible fading.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the only marks are tiny specks along the soundtrack edge.
Picture
Positive colour image, three consecutive frames of the same shot, and the characters shown are consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks between perforations on 35mm stock is consistent with a late-1990s 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 000069870
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
