Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of a cultural phenomenon that had swept American television and toy shelves. The trailer promoting it was a theatrical event in its own right, teasing audiences with the franchise's first big-screen outing and its central conflict: Mewtwo, a genetically engineered Pokémon wrestling with identity and purpose. The film's success cemented Pokémon's place in cinema history and introduced a generation to stakes beyond the games and cartoon.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer featuring Mewtwo alongside cloned Pokémon, including Gyarados, Scyther, and Nidoqueen. Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most sought-after characters, prized for its origin as a man-made creation and its role as the film's tragic antagonist. The presence of cloned companions points to the movie's premise of artificial duplication, a plot device that gave the story its emotional core. A trailer cell like this one captures promotional material built to generate anticipation, distinct from a theatrical print, and offers collectors a tangible link to how the film was first sold to the public.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer for Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames across the picture area.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no torn or missing holes visible.
Soundtrack
Two white variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with Dolby Digital-style data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted base with a neutral to slightly cool dye image, and no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size beyond a few tiny dust specks; no scratches, cue marks or splices visible.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive near-identical frames from one shot, and the characters shown are consistent with a Pokémon film.
Era check
The optical track with Dolby Digital blocks and the clear blue-tinted base are consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print such as this 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 000069872
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
