Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in the wake of the franchise's explosive American debut, with Warner Bros. and Nintendo capitalizing on a cultural wave few could have predicted. The 1999 teaser trailer for the first film, Pokémon: The First Movie, served as an early marker of that moment, introducing mainstream audiences to Mewtwo well before the feature hit theaters. Promotional reels like this one were tools of anticipation, built to stoke demand for a franchise still finding its footing in American pop culture.
This cell, drawn from that early trailer reel, centers on Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon whose creation and inner conflict anchored the film's narrative stakes. As the marquee figure of the movie's marketing push, Mewtwo carries outsized value for collectors tracing the character's earliest theatrical appearances. A trailer cell like this one predates the feature's release, making it a document of promise and expectation, a fragment of the campaign that introduced Mewtwo to a waiting public before the story itself ever played out on screen.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four-perforation frame pitch on both edges, with three consecutive frames lying across the strip and part of a fourth cut at the right edge.
Perforations
Four perforations per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, plus a bright dashed line above them; the speckled blocks between the lower perforations look like Dolby Digital data.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Blue-tinted edge margins with a clear base; the dye image looks saturated and neutral in the dark areas, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the strip looks clean.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames repeat the same shot almost unchanged, and the animated look fits the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Optical tracks with Dolby Digital blocks suit a late-1990s 35mm release print, though a Dolby Digital date code is not legible here.
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 000070048
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
