Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's advance strike for the franchise's first theatrical outing, "Pokémon: The First Movie," a release that rode the crest of Pokémania as it swept American playgrounds and television schedules. These early promotional reels were cut to stoke anticipation months before the feature itself landed, giving audiences a first glimpse of animation and stakes that television had not yet shown. As a document of the franchise's theatrical ambitions, this trailer material captures a studio betting heavily on a phenomenon still proving itself beyond the small screen.
This cell, Mew Battling!, centers on the confrontation between Mew and Mewtwo, the two Pokémon whose rivalry anchors the film's mythology. Mew, the ancestral and elusive original, and Mewtwo, its engineered counterpart, represent the natural and artificial poles of the Pokémon world, a pairing collectors prize for its narrative weight. A trailer cell like this one preserves a promotional fragment, a single frame cut for advance marketing rather than the finished feature, making it a scarce artifact of the film's earliest public presentation.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer for Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames side by side.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no tears or missing holes seen at this size.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical soundtrack runs beside the picture, with Dolby Digital-style data blocks visible in the gaps between the perforations on the sound edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a faint blue-cyan edge tint; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen in this capture; only light dust specks and the camera reflection on one frame.
Picture
Positive colour image, three consecutive frames from one shot; the animated white creature and purple burst fit a Pokémon film, consistent with the record.
Era check
The optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks on a colour positive print is consistent with a late-1990s theatrical release print such as 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 000069985
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
