Released in 1999 as Pokémon mania swept the United States, this promotional trailer arrived courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo's marketing machine, built to herald the franchise's leap from handheld screens and Saturday morning television to the multiplex. The Pokémon anime had already become a cultural phenomenon, and this theatrical preview was a crucial bridge, introducing moviegoers to the stakes and spectacle of the feature film to come. For collectors of early franchise ephemera, trailer cells like this one mark a rare moment before the brand's imagery became fully standardized, capturing the promotional language used to sell Pokémon as a cinematic event rather than a television spinoff.
This cell pairs two of the franchise's defining figures, Charizard and Pikachu, in a single strip of 35mm film. Charizard, the fire-breathing dragon beloved for its power and rarity among trainers, offered the trailer a moment of scale and intensity. Pikachu, the franchise mascot, appears here in motion, jumping, a gesture tied to its signature energy and appeal. Together they represent the trailer's core promise: beloved creatures brought to life on the big screen.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm positive release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, the 35mm layout; the strip holds three frames, two of them near-identical and one full frame of a different shot.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched with no visible tears or broken edges.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture; no Dolby Digital blocks are visible between the bottom perforations, which show a speckled pattern, and no DTS or SDDS is seen.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
The clear base has a light blue tint along both edges, and the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the strip looks clean on the panel.
Picture
Positive colour image; the first two frames are near-identical and consecutive, the third cuts to a different shot, and the animated look is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
A 35mm positive with an optical track and bottom-edge speckle that suggests a digital sound layer fits a late-1990s release print, so it is consistent with 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 000069914
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
