Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of the marketing push surrounding Pokémon: The First Movie, released theatrically by Warner Bros. in North America under license from Nintendo and the Pokémon Company. The franchise was then at its commercial peak, having exploded from handheld games into an animated series, trading cards, and merchandise that dominated youth culture. Trailer prints like this one circulated briefly in theaters before being pulled from rotation, making surviving 35mm fragments scarce artifacts of that early promotional run, predating the feature film itself in public exhibition.
This cell preserves a moment built around Gyarados, one of the franchise's most recognizable Water-type Pokémon, prized by collectors for its scale and its reputation as a dramatic, high-impact creature in the games and animated series. As a trailer fragment rather than a scene from the finished film, this piece represents Pokémon as it was being introduced to a wider theatrical audience, a single frame pulled from the promotional reel meant to stir anticipation. For collectors, it stands as a tangible piece of that marketing moment.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three full frames of picture.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no tears or torn edges visible.
Soundtrack
A pair of variable-area optical tracks runs beside the picture, with a dashed line above them; Dolby Digital data blocks sit between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear to slightly blue-tinted base at the edges; dye image looks saturated and neutral with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible on the three frames.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames repeat nearly the same drawn composition as one shot, and the animated style fits the film on record.
Era check
Consistent: an analog optical track plus Dolby Digital data between the perforations suits a late-1990s 35mm release print, and the animation suits the film on record.
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 000069942
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
