Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of the marketing push surrounding the first theatrical Pokémon feature, released in the United States through Warner Bros. with backing from Nintendo and the broader Pokémon media machine. The property was at the height of its cultural dominance that year, and promotional trailer prints like this one circulated through theaters to build anticipation for a franchise that would go on to define a generation's introduction to the series on the big screen. These early promotional reels are scarce survivors, often overshadowed by the feature prints that followed them into archives.
This cell, Mewtwo Commands The Clones!, centers on Mewtwo, the engineered Pokémon whose arc of dominance and rebellion anchors the film's narrative, here shown directing his assembled forces. Gyarados, Scyther, and Nidoqueen appear as members of that cloned army, three distinct species chosen to represent the scale and variety of Mewtwo's command. A moment named for command and clones speaks to authority and assembled power, core to the character's introduction. As a trailer cell, it belongs to the promotional stage of the film's life, made to entice rather than narrate, and collectors prize such pieces for capturing Mewtwo at the outset of his cinematic prominence.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames, the first two near-identical and the third a different shot.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes that look evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical soundtrack runs between the picture and the lower perforations; Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations, and no DTS or SDDS is seen.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted edge margins with a neutral base; the dye image looks saturated and unfaded, with no red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; the strip shows no obvious scratches, splices or cue marks, though the capture is too small to rule out fine abrasion.
Picture
Positive colour image. The first two frames hold the same shot, the third is a different shot, so they are not one continuous shot. The animated look is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks, with a blue-tinted, unfaded base, fits 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 000069908
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
