Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and The Pokémon Company primed American audiences for the franchise's theatrical debut, riding the crest of the Pokémon phenomenon that had already swept toys, trading cards, and television into households nationwide. The teaser was engineered to build anticipation for Mewtwo Strikes Back, positioning the film as the first major test of whether the pocket monster craze could translate into box office success. For collectors, trailer material from this period captures a transitional moment, when the brand pushed beyond television into feature-length ambition.
This cell preserves Mewtwo at the center of its own introduction, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose psychic power and brooding presence made it the franchise's first true antagonist figure. Mewtwo's design and backstory set it apart from the rest of the roster, and early promotional material built mystique around the character before general audiences ever saw the full film. A moment described as preparation to attack speaks to anticipation itself, the trailer's job of promising conflict and spectacle. As a piece of trailer ephemera, the cell represents advertising artwork rather than finished feature footage, a distinction collectors prize for its rarity and historical role.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted base along the edges; the dye image reads as deep saturated blue with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and the picture is plausibly a Pokémon trailer frame, matching the film on record.
Era check
Consistent: optical tracks plus Dolby Digital data blocks suit a late-1990s 35mm release print, and the animated picture fits a 1999 Pokémon 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 000070017
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
