Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's advance promise of the franchise's leap to the big screen, a moment when Pokémania was at its commercial peak across toys, trading cards, and television. The theatrical trailer circulated in advance of Pokémon: The First Movie, building anticipation for audiences who had followed the series weekly and now wanted it writ large on a cinema screen. As a promotional reel rather than the feature itself, it holds its own place in the franchise's material history, a separate strip of film whose job was simply to sell the dream of Pokémon in theaters.
This cell preserves Pikachu, the character most responsible for the franchise's crossover into mainstream culture, and the reason so many collectors seek these early frames out at all. The moment named here is jumping, a plain and active beat that speaks to Pikachu's role as mascot and figure of motion within the promotional material. As a piece of a trailer rather than the film proper, it belonged to the machinery of anticipation itself, a single frame pulled from the reel meant to stir excitement before the movie ever reached a theater.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release print of the Pokémon: The Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, with three full frames visible on this strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, and cleanly punched with no visible tears or missing holes.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Neutral clear base with a light blue edge tint; dye image looks saturated and even, with no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible on these three frames.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one continuous shot, and the Pikémon-style animation is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Dual optical tracks with Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations fit a late-1990s release print, 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 000069921
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
