Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's first major push to bring the franchise to American theaters, built to promote Pokémon: The First Movie ahead of its wide release. It marked a pivotal moment for the brand's crossover into mainstream Western pop culture, riding the wave of the television series and trading card craze. Trailer reels like this one circulated to theater projectionists and promotional partners, making surviving 35mm cells from this material scarce artifacts of that early marketing campaign.
This cell preserves a moment featuring Pikachu, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, three of the franchise's most recognized starter and mascot characters, drawn from the earliest wave of the series' popularity. As a trailer frame rather than a scene from the finished feature, it represents the promotional apparatus built to introduce these characters to a theatrical audience for the first time. Collectors prize this grouping because it brings together Pikachu's mascot status with two of the original starter Pokémon, anchoring the piece firmly within the franchise's foundational, most sought-after imagery.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm positive release-print strip from the Pokémon: The Movie (1999) trailer.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations span each frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames of picture.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no visible tears or stretched or damaged holes.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture on the lower edge, with a dashed cyan-and-white line above them; no Dolby Digital blocks are visible between the perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a neutral to slightly cool cast; the dye image looks saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the frames look clean.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animation style is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: optical stereo track and positive colour stock fit a 1999 theatrical trailer, with no later digital-era elements evident.
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 000070026
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
