Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 courtesy of Warner Bros. and Nintendo, riding the crest of a cultural wave that had already swept American television and toy aisles. The promotional trailer reel for this release captures a franchise at its commercial and creative peak, when Pokémon mania translated into one of the highest grossing anime theatrical releases in the United States. These trailer cells circulated through theaters and promotional channels, offering audiences a first glimpse of the film's central conflict between Mewtwo and the cloned Pokémon under its command.
This cell preserves a moment from that promotional material showing Mewtwo alongside its engineered army: Gyarados, Scyther, and Nidoqueen. Mewtwo remains one of the franchise's most sought after characters, a genetically created Pokémon whose storyline of control and rebellion anchored the film's narrative weight. The scene described by the title reflects the clones' obedience to Mewtwo's authority, a pivotal dynamic in the plot. As a trailer cell rather than a finished film frame, it represents the marketing apparatus built to introduce this conflict to audiences before the movie's wide release, making it a desirable artifact for collectors tracing the franchise's earliest theatrical promotion.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm positive release print of the 1999 Pokémon: The Movie trailer.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds a single complete frame.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, rounded-rectangle, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes visible.
Soundtrack
Two white variable-area optical tracks run between the picture and the lower perforations, with a dashed line above them; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode or SDDS visible.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue-cyan tint at the edges; the dye image shows saturated colour, with no fade or warm shift evident.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices on this single frame.
Picture
Positive colour image of a single frame, so consecutive-shot continuity cannot be checked; the animated Pokémon artwork fits the film on record.
Era check
The twin optical tracks and positive colour stock fit a 1999 35mm release print, though no Dolby Digital blocks appear in the gaps between perforations.
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 000070155
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
