SCENEMewtwo Preparing To Attack!/Ash and Friends - Transition Cell
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003019
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television and card game momentum onto the big screen in the United States. Built from a promotional trailer reel rather than the feature itself, this strip reflects the marketing push that preceded the film's release, a period when Pokémania was at its commercial peak and every teaser frame was collected alongside merchandise, cards, and toys. Trailer cells like this one offer a glimpse of how the studio chose to sell the story before audiences ever saw the finished picture.
This cell captures a pivotal setup moment, Mewtwo preparing to attack while Ash and his companions appear in transition, suggesting the trailer's effort to tease the film's central conflict. Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most sought-after characters, prized for his role as the genetically engineered antagonist whose power drives the film's plot. Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Ash represent the core adventuring party audiences already knew from television, making this a bridge image between the familiar cast and the looming threat the movie promised to deliver.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
Perforation layout looks like 35mm, with four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with clean rounded-rectangle punches and no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, two tracks, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue edge tint; the dye image looks saturated blue-purple with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No lines, scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and the animated look fits a Pokémon trailer.
Era check
Optical tracks plus Dolby Digital blocks on a safety-type base are consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print of the film on record.
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 000070020
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
