Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of the promotional push surrounding Pokémon: The First Movie, released domestically by Warner Bros. in partnership with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. The franchise was at the height of its first great wave of American popularity, and trailer prints circulated to theaters as part of that marketing machine. These reels are scarce survivors, as promotional material was rarely preserved with the same care as feature prints, making any surviving 35mm trailer fragment a notable piece of franchise history from this breakout era.
This cell centers on Mew, the legendary Pokémon whose mythology anchors the film's plot and whose rarity has made it one of the most sought-after characters in the franchise among collectors. A moment framed as preparation for attack signals tension and anticipation, the kind of beat trailers are built around to draw audiences into the story's stakes. As a trailer cell rather than a feature frame, it represents the film's own advertising, a piece of the apparatus built to sell the movie rather than simply tell it.
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, with three full frames visible on the strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no tears seen.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, plus Dolby Digital data blocks in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations; no DTS or SDDS seen.
Edge print
Upper edge reads, mirrored, "2383 187 341 1 30 KODAK 28 1999 L"; no "SAFETY FILM" text is visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-cyan edge tint; the dye image looks neutral to slightly magenta-shifted, with no obvious fading.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames of one shot, and the picture is consistent with a Pokémon: The Movie trailer.
Era check
Consistent: Kodak 2383 print stock, a 1999 date code, and a combined optical and Dolby Digital soundtrack fit a late-1990s release print.
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 000069996
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
