Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in American theaters in November 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of Pokémania as the franchise expanded from handheld games and television into a full theatrical event. Promotional trailer material from this period circulated through theater chains and promotional reels on physical film stock, making surviving 35mm trailer cells a tangible link to the marketing push that introduced Mewtwo's origin story and Mew's mythology to a mainstream audience hungry for the next chapter of the phenomenon.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer campaign centered on Mew, the rare and elusive Psychic-type long positioned as the franchise's most mysterious original creature. Its presence here, dodging an attack, speaks to Mew's established role as an evasive, almost untouchable figure within the film's mythology, a quality that has long driven collector interest in anything depicting the character in action. As a trailer cell rather than a frame from the finished feature, it represents the raw promotional footage built to entice audiences before the movie's release, capturing Mew at a moment meant to signal spectacle and stakes.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which is the 35mm layout; the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no visible tearing or distortion.
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
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral and fully saturated, with no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
Small dark specks and a faint smudge on the third frame; no long scratches, cue marks or splices seen.
Picture
Positive image. Frames one and two look nearly identical and frame three shows the same shot slightly advanced, so they run consecutively; the artwork is consistent with Pokémon: The Movie.
Era check
Consistent: an optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks on 35mm points to a late-1990s release print, which 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 000070089
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
