Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in American theaters in November 1999, released by Warner Bros. in partnership with Nintendo and Pikachu Project 1998, riding the crest of the franchise's explosive US debut. Promotional trailers circulated in advance of the feature, building anticipation for a story centered on Mew and its cloned counterpart Mewtwo. These trailer reels are their own small artifacts of the era, distinct from the finished film, capturing Pokémon mania at its theatrical peak when the brand was crossing from television and trading cards into the multiplex.
This cell comes from that trailer material and centers on Mew, the rare and elusive Psychic-type long prized by collectors for its mythical status within the Pokémon mythos. The moment named here, Mew preparing to attack, speaks to the character's latent power, a quiet gathering of force before action that trailers often use to tease a film's stakes. As a trailer cell rather than a frame from the finished picture, it preserves a piece of the marketing campaign itself, the version of Mew audiences glimpsed before the movie proper ever reached them.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print strip from the 1999 Pokémon: The Movie trailer.
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which is the 35mm layout; the strip holds three frames, the last one cut off at the right.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched and evenly spaced along the whole strip.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the bottom perforations; no DTS line or SDDS tracks visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a neutral to slightly cool cast; the dye image looks saturated and not visibly faded.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the picture is consistent with the Pokémon: The Movie trailer on record.
Era check
The optical track with Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations matches a late-1990s 35mm release print, which fits 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 000069997
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
