Released in 1999, Pokémon: The Movie brought Warner Bros. and Nintendo's cultural juggernaut to American theaters at the height of Pokémania, adapting the Japanese animated feature Mewtwo Strikes Back for a new audience. The trailer campaign that preceded it was a crucial marketing instrument, built to translate the phenomenon of the trading cards and television series into box office anticipation. For many young viewers, this promotional reel was their first glimpse of the film in motion, making trailer ephemera from this release historically significant as the bridge between a television property and a theatrical event.
This cell preserves a moment from that promotional reel, isolating Pikachu in the act its title names: jumping. As the franchise's defining mascot, Pikachu anchors nearly all period merchandise and film material, and trailer cells featuring the character carry particular appeal for collectors assembling a record of the brand's theatrical debut. A trailer cell differs from a finished film frame in purpose rather than craft, existing to compress energy and character into a single promotional beat. Here that beat is pure motion and enthusiasm, a fitting single image for a character defined by exactly that spirit.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which matches 35mm; the strip holds three full frames, with a partial frame cut off at the left edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no tears or missing holes.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical soundtrack runs beside the picture. Dolby Digital data blocks are visible in the gaps between the lower perforations. No DTS timecode line or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-cyan tint on the edge margins, with a neutral clear base between the perforations; the dye image looks saturated with no fading.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the frame lines and optical track look clean.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames from one shot with matching composition. The animated character and sky are consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
A two-track analog optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations is consistent with a late-1990s 35mm 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 000069918
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
