Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of a cultural wave that had already swept American television and toy aisles. The promotional trailer circulated ahead of the feature's theatrical run, designed to stoke anticipation among a fanbase still new to seeing these creatures rendered at feature length. For many collectors, this early marketing material marks the franchise's first real crossover into mainstream cinema, a moment worth preserving in its own right.
This particular cell, called Pokémon Group, brings together Hitmonlee, Venusaur, Rhyhorn, Sandslash, Scyther, and Rhydon, a roster pulled largely from the game's earlier generation of fighting and ground types alongside Venusaur's plant lineage. A trailer cell like this exists to introduce breadth rather than narrative, signaling to audiences the scale and variety of the roster they could expect to see animated together. For collectors, the appeal lies in that ensemble arrangement itself, a rare chance to hold a single frame representing several distinct creatures at once rather than a solitary figure.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The First Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no tears or distortion visible.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with dashed lines above them and a speckled, block-patterned band between the lower perforations that is not clearly readable as Dolby data.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Neutral clear base with a light blue tint around the edges; the dye image shows saturated, balanced colour with no fading or red shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames repeat the same composition, so they run consecutively as one shot, and the animated look fits the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus the speckled band between perforations fits a late-1990s 35mm release print, consistent with a 1999 theatrical 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 000069889
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
