SCENEMewtwo’s Invitation/Ash and Friends Swim To The Surface
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003033
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's advance strike for Pokémon: The First Movie, introducing American audiences to Mewtwo ahead of the feature's theatrical run. The trailer format itself carries historical weight: it predates the film proper and captures the marketing machine that turned a Japanese game and anime property into a dominant piece of American pop culture. For collectors, trailer cells from this period mark the exact moment Pokémon crossed into mainstream theatrical distribution, a transitional artifact between television phenomenon and box office event.
This cell holds the gathering of Ash Ketchum, Brock, and Misty, the series' core trio, alongside Pikachu, Squirtle, and Staryu, their partnered Pokémon. The sequence name points to Mewtwo's invitation setting the plot in motion and the group's ascent to the surface, a narrative beat tying the trailer's preview footage directly to the film's inciting mystery. Collectors prize cells featuring this exact character combination, since Ash, Brock, and Misty together with their signature Pokémon represent the franchise's foundational ensemble, rarely assembled in a single frame from such an early promotional reel.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm optical-track release print of the Pokémon: The Movie (1999) trailer.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes, cleanly punched with no tears or distortion seen.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS line or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a slight blue-cyan tint along the edges; 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; the frame line between the second and third frames reads as a cut between shots.
Picture
Positive image; the first two frames repeat one shot, the third is a different shot, and the animated Pokémon style fits the film on record.
Era check
A 35mm optical-track release print with positive colour images is consistent with a 1999 theatrical trailer for this animated film.
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 000070034
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
