Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television and trading card momentum onto the big screen. Promotional trailers circulated in theaters ahead of release, building anticipation for a story centered on Mewtwo and the legendary Mew. These early trailer prints are scarce artifacts of that marketing push, predating the feature itself and offering a glimpse of how the studio chose to introduce Pokémon mythology to a wide theatrical audience at the height of the craze.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer reel, with Mew as the sole figure on screen. Mew holds a singular place in the Pokémon mythos as the rare, almost mythical progenitor species, the basis for the clone Mewtwo and a perennial favorite among collectors for its scarcity in the games and its central role in the film's premise. A trailer cell like this one captures Pokémon mid-battle, a fitting emphasis given the character's legendary status and the combative stakes the movie built its narrative around. For collectors, it stands as an early promotional trace of that cultural moment.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon: The Movie (1999) with analogue and Dolby Digital sound.
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which reads as 35mm; the strip holds three full frames of picture.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, evenly spaced, with rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and uniform.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture; Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations, so a combined analogue and digital layout.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a faint blue tint at the edges and no visible fade; the dye image looks saturated and neutral in the purples and whites.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one shot and match an animated Pokémon feature, consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Optical tracks plus Dolby Digital data blocks fit a late-1990s 35mm release print, so the stock and layout are consistent with the 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 000069983
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
