Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's promotional vanguard for Pokémon: The First Movie, the franchise's leap from television phenomenon to theatrical event. Released amid peak Pokémania in the United States, these trailer reels circulated in cinemas ahead of the feature, building anticipation for a story centered on Mewtwo, the series' first bioengineered antagonist. For archivists, trailer material from this period captures the marketing machine that turned a handheld game into a global cultural wave, preserving a moment before the franchise's long theatrical run began.
This cell, Mewtwo Descends, centers on Pokémon's most formidable and philosophically charged creation, a figure whose creation story and moral weight set it apart from the roster of collectible creatures around it. Collectors prize Mewtwo material for its scarcity relative to Pikachu-centric merchandise and for its tie to the franchise's darker, more ambitious narrative ambitions. As a trailer cell rather than a finished film frame, it belongs to the promotional apparatus built to introduce audiences to this character ahead of the movie's release, a piece of the campaign that announced Mewtwo's arrival into the broader cultural consciousness.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no visible tears or torn edges.
Soundtrack
A two-track 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
Clear to slightly cool base with a blue-tinted edge margin; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible across the three frames.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one continuous shot. The animated art style is plausible for the film on record, though no title card is visible to confirm it.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: variable-area optical plus Dolby Digital data on 35mm stock fits 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 000069999
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
