Warner Bros. brought Pokémon to American theaters in November 1999, releasing Pokémon: The First Movie after Nintendo's property had already swept through television and the trading card market. The film arrived at the height of Pokémania, a cultural wave that reshaped how studios marketed properties aimed at young audiences, pairing animated features with aggressive cross promotion. Trailer and promotional material from this period circulated widely in theaters and print, building anticipation for a franchise still new to the big screen.
This cell preserves a piece of that promotional campaign, bearing the film's website address alongside an appearance by Mew, the legendary Pokémon whose mystery and rarity made it central to the movie's plot and to collector interest more broadly. A web address cell like this one marks the moment when a studio pointed audiences toward digital spaces for the first time in a major way, tying the mystique of Mew to a new era of film marketing history.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip for Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm, with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds roughly ten picture-area cells, laid out as title-card frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with the soundtrack-side perforations separated by speckled Dolby data blocks.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with Dolby Digital data blocks visible in the gaps between the perforations on the soundtrack edge.
Edge print
Reads in purple ink, mirrored: "2383 187 341 1 30 KODAK 28 1999 L", with a small square mark at the left.
Base & colour
Clear base with a pale cyan-blue tint at the edges; the dye image is neutral with strong black and saturated yellow and blue, no fading seen.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive image; the frames run consecutively as one black title card with repeated Pokémon logos and a yellow pokemonthemovie.com web address, matching the film on record.
Era check
Kodak 2383 print stock, a 1999 date code and Dolby Digital plus optical tracks are consistent with a 1999 35mm release trailer for Pokémon: The Movie.
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 000070164
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
