Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's early push to bring the franchise's first theatrical feature to American audiences, riding the crest of Pokémania as the trading cards, games, and television series converged into a single cultural moment. The teaser material that preceded the full release of Pokémon: The First Movie served to introduce mainstream filmgoers to the mythology behind Mew and Mewtwo, setting up stakes that the games and show had only hinted at. This promotional window is a touchstone for collectors who trace the franchise's leap from handheld screens to multiplex marquees.
This cell preserves a strip from that promotional reel, built around Mew, the rare and elusive Pokémon whose legend anchors the film's entire premise. As a trailer cut, it represents the industry's effort to tease narrative and spectacle without revealing the full story, making any surviving frame of Mew a direct artifact of that marketing campaign. For collectors, Mew's scarcity in the games mirrors its desirability on film, and a 35mm piece naming this character ties straight into the mythic core the movie was built to sell.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds two full frames and part of a third.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shapes, cleanly punched with no visible tears or damage.
Soundtrack
Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations, with a variable-area optical track and a dashed line running beside the picture.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a pale blue-cyan tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the round ring and spot on the two right frames are phone reflection and are ignored.
Picture
Positive image; the frames run consecutively as one continuous shot, and the white creature outline with pink and red ovals fits a Pokémon trailer.
Era check
Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations alongside an optical track fit a late-1990s release print, consistent with a 1999 trailer on 35mm.
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 000069991
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
