Released in 1999 by Warner Bros. in North America under license from Nintendo and Pokémon USA, Pokémon: The First Movie arrived at the height of Pokémania, when the franchise dominated American playgrounds, trading card binders, and Saturday morning schedules. The accompanying trailer campaign was engineered to pull in both longtime fans of the anime and newcomers drawn by the novelty of a theatrical outing for Ash Ketchum and company. It remains a touchstone for collectors as one of the first major American theatrical pushes for a Japanese animated property, marking a cultural crossover moment that few franchises before or since have matched.
This cell preserves a moment from that promotional reel, showing Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu as they move toward Mewtwo's fortress, the narrative's central antagonist location and a setting synonymous with the film's darker, more philosophical stakes. As a trailer cell, it belonged to prints built to entice theatergoers ahead of release, making it a physical artifact of the marketing push rather than the feature itself. Collectors prize this grouping of characters together, as the four represent the original core cast whose dynamic defined the series' early identity.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, the 35mm layout; the strip holds three full frames side by side.
Perforations
Four rounded-rectangle perforations per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no visible tears or damaged edges.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track (two tracks) runs beside the picture, with Dolby Digital-style data blocks in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations and a dashed blue line outside the track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral to cool, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; a faint curved mark below the third frame looks like a reflection or surface smudge.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and nothing in them contradicts the animated film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks on a clear base fits a 1999 theatrical 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 000069972
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
