Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as the promotional herald for Pokémon: The First Movie, released theatrically through Warner Bros. in the United States after originating with Nintendo and Toho in Japan. It landed at the height of Pokémania, when the franchise was expanding from television and trading cards into feature film territory. For a certain generation, this trailer was the first glimpse of the Pokémon world rendered on the big screen, making surviving 35mm fragments from its run a tangible link to that transitional moment between television phenomenon and cinematic franchise.
This cell preserves a moment called Ash Knocked Down, placing Ash Ketchum, the series' central trainer and its most recognizable human face, at a point of setback within the trailer's assembled footage. Trailers exist to compress a film's stakes into a handful of charged beats, and a cell built around Ash being knocked down speaks to conflict and consequence rather than triumph, a glimpse meant to stir curiosity about what challenge awaits him. For collectors, Ash material from this earliest promotional run carries particular interest as a marker of the character's introduction to film audiences.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations span each frame along both edges, and the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or damaged edges visible.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture; Dolby Digital data blocks sit between the perforations on the sound edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a pale blue tint along the edges; the dye image looks neutral and saturated, with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
A few small brown speckles in the picture area, repeated on all three frames; no scratches, cue marks or splices seen.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one shot with slight movement. Picture is an animated character, plausible for the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: optical track plus Dolby Digital data blocks suit a 1999 trailer, and the base is clear and unfaded.
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 000070105
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
