Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's advance promotional reel for Pokémon: The First Movie, released at the height of Pokémania in North America. The franchise had exploded from handheld games into a television juggernaut, and this theatrical trailer was built to usher that momentum into movie houses, promising audiences their first big-screen encounter with Mewtwo and the wider cast. As a marketing artifact it captures a specific moment when a Japanese gaming property became a full-blown American cinematic event, and surviving 35mm trailer material from this campaign is scarce compared to the feature prints themselves.
This cell documents a moment named for two of the franchise's most significant creatures, Mewtwo and Mew, engaged in direct conflict. Mewtwo, the engineered clone born of scientific ambition, stands as the film's central tragic antagonist, while Mew represents the original, elusive ancestor it was copied from. Their clash was the emotional and narrative core the entire marketing push was built around, making a trailer cell depicting this confrontation a prized link to how the story was first sold to the public before anyone had seen the finished film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the Pokémon: The Movie (1999) trailer.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or damaged holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, with Dolby Digital data blocks in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted base at the edges, with a neutral to slightly warm dye image and no fading visible.
Projection history
A few small brown specks and a faint streak on the first two frames; no splices or cue marks seen.
Picture
Positive image; the first two frames repeat the same shot and the third is a different shot; consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print, since the optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks on a blue-tinted base matches that era's theatrical 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 000070119
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
