Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing push, riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American theaters, toy aisles, and television schedules alike. The trailer campaign that preceded it served as an early marker of the franchise's cinematic ambitions, teasing audiences with footage of Mewtwo's origin story months before release. These promotional reels are scarce survivors today, since trailer prints saw limited circulation compared to the feature itself, making any surviving 35mm fragment a notable piece of franchise history.
This cell draws its name from a moment in which Mewtwo issues orders to its assembled cloned Pokémon, with Gyarados, Scyther, and Nidoqueen standing among those ranks. Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most sought-after characters, prized for its role as the film's central antagonist and its uneasy, engineered origin. A command scene positions Mewtwo as leader rather than lone figure, and a trailer cell like this one captures the film being sold to audiences, a promotional artifact distinct from the finished feature, preserving an early glimpse of that assembled, obedient group.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames, all fully visible.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no tears or stretched holes seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between picture and the lower perforations, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-teal tint at the edges; dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; one circular ring on the third frame is a camera reflection and is ignored.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animated Pokémon artwork fits the film on record.
Era check
Consistent: a Dolby Digital plus optical analogue track on positive colour stock suits a 1999 35mm theatrical release 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 000069899
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
