Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo built American anticipation for Pokémon: The First Movie, the franchise's debut theatrical release and a defining moment in the late-90s Pokémon boom. Promotional trailer reels like this one circulated in theaters ahead of the film's release, giving audiences their first glimpse of Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon positioned as the film's central antagonist and one of the series' most enduring and sought-after characters.
This cell preserves the moment Mewtwo asserts command over a gathered group of cloned Pokémon, with Gyarados, Scyther, Nidoqueen, and Ninetales standing among those under its direction. For collectors, this is a scene that establishes Mewtwo's dominance and the film's premise of artificial Pokémon bent to a singular will. As a trailer cell, it belongs to the promotional material meant to sell the film's stakes before release, making it a piece of the franchise's earliest theatrical marketing history rather than the finished feature itself.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Kodak 2383 release print of the 1999 Pokémon: The Movie trailer.
Gauge
35mm, with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three frames, the third slightly cropped at the right.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and uniform.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Reads backwards along the top edge: "2383 187 341 1 30 KODAK 28 1999 L", with a small purple square at the end.
Base & colour
Pale cyan-blue edge tint with a neutral base; the dye image looks saturated and unfaded.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the only artefact is a dark ring on the third frame, which is a camera reflection and is ignored.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one shot with minimal change between them, and nothing contradicts the film on record.
Era check
Consistent: a Kodak 2383 release print stock with a 1999 date code, a two-track optical soundtrack and Dolby Digital blocks fit 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 000069905
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
