Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television and trading card momentum into theaters, part of a broader wave of properties translating Japanese animation for American audiences. Its trailer campaign was essential to that effort, building anticipation ahead of a release that would become one of the highest grossing anime films to play in US cinemas and introduce countless young viewers to Pokémon as a cinematic experience rather than just a weekly series.
This cell preserves a strip from that promotional reel, built around Mew, the rare and mythical Pokémon whose mystique anchors the film's plot. A card bearing Mew's presence at the outset of the trailer signals the character's importance before a single scene unfolds, establishing the creature as the hook for the entire feature. Pieces like this appeal to collectors for their role in film history, capturing the moment audiences were first invited, through promotional material alone, to wonder about Mew.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames showing the same shot.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with rounded-rectangle holes of uniform shape along the whole strip.
Soundtrack
A dual variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted edge margins with a neutral clear base; the dye image looks saturated and unfaded, with no red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible across the three frames.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames of one shot, and the Mew name card is consistent with the Pokémon trailer on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print, since the combined optical and Dolby Digital soundtrack and the colour stock suit 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 000069989
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
