Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of the marketing push surrounding the franchise's leap from television and trading cards to the big screen, a moment when Pokémon fever was at its commercial peak in the West. Distributed to theaters ahead of the feature's release, these trailer prints served as advance notice to audiences lining up for Pokémon: The First Movie, and surviving 35mm segments from that promotional run are scarce reminders of how the brand expanded into cinema.
This cell preserves a piece of trailer footage built around Pikachu in motion, specifically a jump, one of the character's most recognizable physical gestures from the series. As the franchise's central mascot, Pikachu is the figure most sought after by collectors assembling any Pokémon film material, and a trailer segment carries particular appeal since it represents the promotional apparatus rather than the finished feature itself, a distinct category of film history tied to anticipation and release-day marketing.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout, four perforations per frame on both edges, with the strip holding three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted base with a neutral dye image; no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames of one continuous shot, and the cartoon character shown matches the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital data between the perforations is consistent with a late-1990s release print, matching 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 000069916
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
