Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in American theaters in 1999 through Warner Bros. and Nintendo's licensing machine, riding the crest of Pokémania as the franchise's first theatrical feature crossed over from television and trading cards into a full cinema event. The promotional run leading up to release, including teaser trailers, was part of a coordinated media blitz that primed audiences for the film's blend of monster battles and surprisingly somber themes about identity and cloning, with Mewtwo serving as the emotional center of that campaign.
This cell preserves a moment of Mewtwo's Invitation, drawn from the trailer materials circulated ahead of the film's release. Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon at the heart of the story, remains one of the franchise's most sought-after figures for collectors, prized for the character's role as antagonist turned tragic figure. An invitation implies a summons or gathering, the kind of narrative hook trailers are built to tease without resolution. As a trailer fragment rather than a finished scene, the cell captures the promotional voice of the film, the moment where anticipation itself became part of Pokémon's cultural footprint.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm optical-track release trailer print of Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; they look evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no visible tears or missing holes.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track, two tracks side by side, runs between the picture and the lower perforations; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-cyan cast along the edges; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible, though a few tiny specks sit in the picture area.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and it is an animated image consistent with the animated film on record.
Era check
Consistent: a 35mm print with an analogue variable-area optical track and perforation layout is typical of a 1999 theatrical trailer print.
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 000070037
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
