Released in 1999 as Warner Bros. brought Pokémon to American theaters, this trailer arrived at the height of a cultural wave few franchises have matched before or since. Built from Nintendo's handheld games and the hit television series, the film promised young audiences their first big-screen adventure with Ash Ketchum and his companions. The marketing campaign surrounding it was relentless, placing Pikachu on every surface imaginable, and the trailer reels themselves became collectible artifacts of a phenomenon that reshaped children's entertainment and merchandising for a generation.
This cell preserves a moment named for its subject and action: Pikachu falling. Ash Ketchum appears alongside his partner, the two figures at the center of the franchise's emotional core. Pikachu remains the most recognized character to emerge from the Pokémon universe, and any cell bearing its likeness draws steady collector interest. A falling moment suggests peril or a turning point, the kind of beat trailers are built around to stir anticipation. As a trailer cell rather than a scene from the finished feature, it belongs to the promotional history of the film, a fragment of how audiences were first invited in.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle shapes and no visible tears or missing holes.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; dye image looks neutral with saturated colours, no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices visible on the three frames.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animated look matches the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: a dual optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks on positive colour stock suits 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 000070065
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
