Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived in theaters as the promotional vanguard for Warner Bros.' release of Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back, the franchise's leap from television phenomenon to theatrical event. Riding the crest of Pokémania in the West, the trailer introduced American audiences to the darker, more dramatic register the film would strike, a departure from the series' usual lighthearted adventures. As an early piece of distributed promotional film, it stands as a marker of just how large the Pokémon brand had grown by the close of the decade.
This cell preserves a moment built around conflict and peril, with Mewtwo asserting itself against Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, the franchise's central duo. Mewtwo, the movie's engineered antagonist, remains one of the most sought-after figures in Pokémon collecting, prized for its singular design and its role as the emotional core of the first film. Pairing it with Ash and Pikachu in a single frame of theatrical promotional material makes this a desirable piece for collectors tracing the franchise's cinematic debut.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames, two complete and one partly cropped at the left.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no tears or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations; the data-block patch in the gaps between perforations looks like speckled texture, not clear Dolby blocks.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted clear base at the edges, with a positive dye image that looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; a few tiny specks in the left frame, which could be dust.
Picture
Positive image; the second and third frames are near-identical, so the strip is not clearly one continuous shot, though the content fits the animated film on record.
Era check
A two-track optical soundtrack with speckled digital-style data patches on a blue-tinted base fits a late-1990s 35mm release print, matching the 1999 date on record.
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 000070054
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
