Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's push to bring the franchise's first theatrical feature, Pokémon: The First Movie, to American audiences. The game and television series had already become a cultural phenomenon, and this promotional reel was part of the marketing machine built to carry that momentum into theaters. Trailer prints from this period are scarce; most were run through projectors and discarded once a film's release window closed, making surviving 35mm fragments a direct physical link to how the movie was first sold to the public.
This cell preserves a moment tied to Mewtwo's Stadium, the setting built around Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon at the center of the film's conflict and one of the franchise's most enduring antagonist figures. As a trailer element, its purpose was to tease the stakes and scale of that confrontation before audiences ever saw the finished feature. For collectors, it represents an early, promotional-only glimpse of Mewtwo's world, predating the film's general release and capturing the character at the height of his introduction to mainstream American moviegoers.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The Movie (1999) trailer.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle shape, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track (two tracks) runs beside the picture, with a dashed line above it, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted clear base at the edges; the dye image looks saturated, 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 one identical shot, which fits a trailer, and nothing contradicts the film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks suggests a late-1990s release print, which is consistent with a 1999 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 000069973
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
