Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's coordinated push to bring the franchise from television to American theaters, trailing the phenomenon that had already seized toy aisles, trading card binders, and Saturday morning programming. The teaser material built anticipation for what would become Pokémon: The First Movie, positioning Mewtwo as the dark, central threat of the feature and signaling to audiences that this was a bigger, more dramatic undertaking than the series episodes. For early collectors, trailer reels like this one capture that bridge moment, when the brand first tested its reach on the big screen.
This cell preserves a frame from that promotional reel, centered on Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose existential struggle anchored the film's narrative and whose design broke from the cuddly archetype audiences expected. A descent suggests arrival or confrontation, a moment of entrance rather than resolution. Trailer cells like this hold particular value because they predate the final cut, offering a document of how the studio chose to introduce its most complex character to a waiting public before the story itself had even opened.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no tears or missing perforations seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear to slightly blue-tinted base; the dye image is saturated with deep blues and no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, splices or cue marks appear across the three frames or along the track.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames from one shot; nothing visible contradicts a match with the Pokémon trailer on record.
Era check
Dolby Digital blocks plus an analogue optical track on a clear base fit a late-1990s 35mm release print, consistent with 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 000070002
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
