Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's push to bring the franchise's first feature film, Pokémon: The First Movie, to American audiences. The trailer circulated ahead of the film's theatrical run, building on the Pokémon craze that had already swept through television, trading cards, and video games. It served as an early marketing artifact of a cultural moment, introducing moviegoers to the stakes of the film's central conflict and its central figure before the feature itself reached screens.
This cell preserves a card bearing Mewtwo's name, the genetically engineered Pokémon at the heart of the film's story and one of the franchise's most sought-after characters among collectors. A card of this kind belongs to the promotional language of trailers, where names and figures are presented plainly to announce who will carry the narrative. Here the focus rests entirely on Mewtwo, isolated as the subject the audience is meant to anticipate, a piece of film history tied directly to the character's introduction to Western audiences.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm, with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with cleanly punched rounded-rectangle holes and no visible tearing or damage.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with a dashed line above it; Dolby Digital blocks are visible in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue edge tint; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no fading or colour shift seen.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the "MEWTWO" title text fits a Pokémon: The Movie trailer.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: a variable-area optical track with Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations on a clear base 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 000070007
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
