Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of the promotional push surrounding Pokémon: The First Movie, released stateside by Warner Bros. after Nintendo and the Pokémon Company's animated property had become a cultural phenomenon through its television run and trading card craze. Trailers of this kind served as the first filmed glimpse many audiences had of the franchise translated to the big screen, building anticipation ahead of the feature's wide release and cementing Pikachu and its human companions as box office draws in their own right.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer built around Ash Ketchum, Misty, and Brock surfacing together, with Pikachu and Squirtle completing the group. The pairing of all three human leads with these two Pokémon reflects the ensemble appeal that made the franchise accessible, as collectors prize material showing the original traveling party intact. A trailer cell like this one holds particular interest since it predates the film proper, capturing promotional artwork made to sell the movie rather than frames from the finished picture itself, a distinction archivists and franchise historians value highly.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames across the picture area.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes and no visible tears or missing teeth.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical soundtrack runs beside the picture; Dolby Digital blocks sit between the lower-edge perforations, so a combined analog and digital layout is shown.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted base along both edges with a neutral picture area; the dye image appears saturated and not visibly faded or red-shifted.
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 shot of an animated underwater scene, consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print or trailer, since the analog optical track combined with Dolby Digital data blocks matches theatrical prints of that period.
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 000069966
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
