Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in American theaters in November 1999, riding the first wave of Pokémania as Nintendo, Game Freak, and Warner Bros. brought the franchise's inaugural feature to a generation raised on the trading cards and television series. Promotional trailers circulated widely that year, building anticipation through teaser reels distributed to theaters ahead of the full release. These preview strips are now sought after as artifacts of that cultural moment, when a Japanese animated property became a genuine American box office event.
This cell preserves a trailer moment built around Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon who serves as the film's central antagonist and one of the franchise's most enduring characters. As the figure whose power drives the movie's conflict, Mewtwo anchors any promotional material meant to signal stakes and spectacle to prospective audiences. A trailer cell like this one functioned as advance advertising, a single frame chosen to represent the feature's tone before general release. For collectors, Mewtwo material from this early promotional run holds particular interest, tied directly to the character's debut on the big screen.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames plus a sliver of a fourth.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes and no visible tears or missing perforations.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track with two bilateral tracks beside the picture, plus Dolby Digital data blocks in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear to faintly bluish base with a strong saturated blue dye image; no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
Faint vertical lines run through all three frames; no splices or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image, the three frames run consecutively as one continuous shot, and the animated look is plausible for the film on record.
Era check
Optical track combined with Dolby Digital data blocks matches a late-1990s 35mm release print, which fits 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 000070052
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
