Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of the marketing push that brought Pokémon from handheld screens and Saturday morning television into American movie theaters, a project overseen by Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine at the height of the franchise's first wave of mainstream popularity. The trailer served as an early promotional artifact, built to stoke anticipation for Mewtwo Strikes Back and to introduce casual audiences to the darker, more mythic register the film would take compared to the television series. As a piece of 35mm ephemera, it represents the promotional side of the Pokémon boom rather than the feature itself.
This cell, Mewtwo Commands The Clones, places Mewtwo, the series' signature engineered Pokémon, in a position of authority over its duplicated creations, with Venusaur and Gyarados standing among the ranks it directs. Mewtwo's appeal to collectors rests on its status as the franchise's central antagonist and philosophical centerpiece, a being defined by command and control rather than companionship. A trailer cell like this one captures a promotional moment meant to establish stakes and scale before the film's release, making it a historical marker of how the movie was first presented to audiences.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames, with a fourth frame cut off at the right edge of the capture.
Perforations
Four per frame along both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-teal tint at the outer edges; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible across the three frames or the soundtrack area.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one continuous shot, and the animated look is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a 1999 release print: an analogue optical track plus Dolby Digital data between the perforations was standard for late-1990s 35mm trailers and features.
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 000069933
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
