Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived ahead of the franchise's theatrical debut, a promotional reel distributed to build anticipation for Pokémon: The First Movie as the property crossed from television and trading cards into cinemas. Produced under the Nintendo and Warner Bros. banner during the height of American Pokémania, this trailer material captures a studio testing the waters of a new kind of blockbuster, one aimed squarely at a generation discovering the series for the first time. For collectors, these early promotional frames mark a distinct moment before the film proper existed in finished form, when the idea of Pokémon on the big screen was still being sold to the public.
This cell, identified as Clone Pokémon Attacking, places Scyther, Rhydon, and Gyarados together in a single promotional moment tied directly to the film's central plot device, the cloned Pokémon created by Mewtwo. These three are among the strongest and most visually striking creatures in the original roster, long favored by collectors for their design and battle presence. A trailer cell built around an attacking moment speaks to the film's early marketing emphasis on conflict and spectacle, positioning the clones as a looming threat well before audiences reached the theater.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm, with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three frames, the third partly cut at the right.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or stretched holes seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with a dashed cyan line at its edge, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-cyan cast at the edges; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no fading or red shift seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible.
Picture
Positive colour image; the first two frames are near-identical and the third shifts slightly, reading as one continuous shot of animated artwork consistent with a Pokémon trailer.
Era check
The Dolby Digital blocks plus analogue optical track suggest a late-1990s-onward release print, which fits a 1999 Pokémon 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 000069929
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
