Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as part of Warner Bros.' theatrical push for Pokémon: The First Movie, released during the height of Pokémania in North America. The franchise had exploded from handheld games into a television phenomenon, and the film marked its first major leap to the big screen, backed by an aggressive marketing campaign that included teaser reels run ahead of family features that year. For collectors, these early promotional materials mark a specific moment when a video game property became a mainstream cinematic event, with studio muscle behind it for the first time.
This cell preserves a frame bearing the promotional web address www.pokemonthemovie.com, a detail that places it squarely within the advance marketing push rather than the feature itself. Such text cards were standard in trailer reels of the period, directing audiences toward supplemental content as the internet became a new promotional frontier for film studios. For archivists, a frame like this documents the mechanics of a 1999 theatrical campaign, a small but tangible piece of how a game-born franchise was sold to moviegoers at the dawn of studio web marketing.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer for Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm layout with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds roughly six frames in view, running horizontally across the panel.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched with no visible tears or missing teeth.
Soundtrack
Two parallel variable-area optical tracks beside the picture, plus Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations; no DTS or SDDS marks seen.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Pale blue-cyan tint to the clear base along both edges; the dye image reads as neutral black and saturated yellow and blue with no visible fading.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the frames look clean.
Picture
Positive image; the frames run consecutively as one repeating card layout, with a 'www.pokemonthemovie.com' web address and Pokémon card backs, matching the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a 1999 release trailer: 35mm with Dolby Digital blocks, dual optical tracks, and a pokemonthemovie.com web card typical of the period.
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 000070150
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
