Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's bid to carry the franchise's television and trading card momentum onto the big screen, backed by one of the most aggressive promotional campaigns of the era. Trailers circulated widely in theaters and on home video tapes, building anticipation for a story centered on Mew and its clone, Mewtwo. This advance marketing push was essential to establishing the film as a cultural event rather than a simple tie-in release, and surviving trailer material from that campaign now documents the earliest public framing of the movie's stakes.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer reel, built around Mew, the rare and elusive Pokémon whose mythical status made it a prized subject for early collectors and fans alike. Labeled as an attack sequence, it points to a promotional beat meant to showcase Mew's power and mystery ahead of the film's full narrative reveal. As a trailer cell, it represents the marketing apparatus of the release itself, a fragment of the campaign built to generate excitement rather than a scene from the finished feature's final cut.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which is the 35mm layout; the strip holds three full frames, with a fourth partly cut off at the right.
Perforations
Four per frame on both the top and bottom edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no tears or damage visible.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture; the gaps between the lower perforations hold speckled Dolby Digital data blocks, so analogue and digital audio sit together.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
The base looks neutral to slightly cool with pale blue borders; the dye image shows saturated purples and no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible in the three frames.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one shot with near-identical content, and the animated figures fit the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks between the perforations is consistent with a late-1990s 35mm release print, matching a 1999 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 000070047
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
