Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's advance strike for Pokémon: The First Movie, riding the franchise's explosive stateside debut. Built from early animation and promotional footage, it circulated in theaters ahead of the feature, introducing American audiences to Mewtwo's origin story and the mythic rarity of Mew before the full film reached screens. As a promotional artifact rather than a feature frame, it holds a distinct place for collectors who track the earliest marketing push behind the Pokémon phenomenon.
This cell preserves a moment built around two of the franchise's most significant figures: Mew, the ancestral and elusive original, evading an attack, and Mewtwo, its engineered counterpart, rendered here in close-up. The pairing speaks to the central tension of the film's narrative, the clone measured against the source. A trailer cell like this one captures how the studio chose to introduce that conflict to audiences, making it a touchstone for collectors focused on Mewtwo's design and Mew's scarcity within early Pokémon media.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The Movie (1999) trailer.
Gauge
35mm: four-perforation frame pitch, with perforations running along both edges; the strip holds three picture frames, the first partly cut at the left edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run between the picture and the lower perforations, plus a dashed line above them; Dolby Digital data blocks are visible in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-cyan tint along the edges; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no red shift or fading seen.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the edges look clean.
Picture
Positive colour image; the second and third frames show the same shot almost unchanged, the first is a different shot, and the animated look fits the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: an analogue optical track with Dolby Digital blocks fits a 1999 theatrical trailer on colour positive 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 000070094
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
