Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of the promotional push surrounding Pokémon: The First Movie, the franchise's leap from television and trading cards into American theaters. Warner Bros. handled distribution stateside, riding the wave of Pokémania that had gripped collectors and kids alike. Trailers of this kind circulated through theater chains on 35mm reels well before home video previews became standard, making surviving strips a tangible record of how the film was marketed to its first audiences.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer featuring Mew, the rare and elusive Psychic-type at the center of the film's central conflict with its clone, Mewtwo. Mew's scarcity within the Pokémon mythos, combined with its small theatrical footprint compared to Pikachu, makes any cell bearing its likeness especially sought after. A dodge implies motion and stakes, consistent with the trailer's role in teasing action and tension to draw audiences into theaters. As a promotional fragment rather than a scene from the finished film, this cell captures Pokémon history at its marketing origin point.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release print strip of the Pokémon: The Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
35mm, with four perforations spanning each frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames, the third partly cropped at the right.
Perforations
Four per frame along both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched, with the lower row interleaved with the Dolby data blocks.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, and Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-tinted base at both edges with a neutral image dye; no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible on this stretch.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one continuous shot, and the animated style matches Pokémon: The Movie.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks on 35mm fits a 1999 theatrical release print, and the animation matches the film 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 000070088
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
