Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of the marketing push that brought Pokémon from handheld games and television into American theaters, a campaign Warner Bros. and Nintendo built with considerable care given the franchise's rapid ascent. The trailer format itself was a cultural event that year, screened ahead of other releases to build anticipation for Mewtwo Strikes Back, and these promotional strips are now sought after as artifacts of that first theatrical wave of Pokémon mania.
This cell, called Pikachu Falling, isolates the franchise's central mascot in a moment of descent, a state that trailers often use to generate tension or stakes before a film's story resolves it. Pikachu's presence alone makes this desirable to collectors, since the character carries the commercial and emotional weight of the entire franchise. A trailer cell is a fragment built for persuasion rather than narrative completeness, so this strip stands as a promotional artifact, a single beat pulled from the reel meant to sell the feature to an audience not yet seated.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations span each frame on both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames, with part of a fourth cut off at the right.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or damaged edges visible in this capture.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run beside the picture, and a dashed line sits above them. The spaces between the lower perforations hold speckled Dolby Digital data blocks.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a slight light-blue edge tint; the dye image looks neutral, with saturated purples and blues and a clean yellow, and no fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; the one round ring on the right-hand frame is the camera's reflection in the base, not damage.
Picture
Positive colour image. The three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animated style fits a Pokémon title.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: analogue optical tracks with Dolby Digital data between the perforations, on a clear colour print stock.
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 000070067
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
