Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as the marketing vanguard for Pokémon: The First Movie, riding the franchise's explosive crossover from Japanese television and trading cards into American theaters. Distributed through Warner Bros. in the United States, the trailer introduced mainstream audiences to Mewtwo, Mew, and the broader Pokémon mythology on the big screen for the first time. It marked a cultural turning point, cementing Pokémon as a theatrical property rather than a television phenomenon alone, and it remains a touchstone for collectors tracing the earliest cinematic footprint of the series.
This cell preserves a moment of Pikachu, the franchise's defining mascot and the character most responsible for Pokémon's global reach. A cell marked Pikachu Crying speaks to an emotional beat built directly into the trailer's pitch, promising audiences that this was more than spectacle, that the film carried feeling. Trailer cells like this one hold a particular appeal for collectors, capturing the promotional language a studio chose to sell a story before anyone had seen the finished picture. For Pikachu specifically, any cell tied to a named emotional state carries added weight among those building a complete record of the character's earliest screen appearances.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of the 1999 Pokémon: The Movie trailer.
Gauge
35mm, with four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds four full frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with matching rounded-rectangle shapes and no visible tears.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track with two tracks runs beside the picture, inboard of the lower perforations; no Dolby Digital blocks, DTS line or SDDS tracks are visible.
Edge print
Reads (mirrored) "2383 187 341 1 30 KODAK 28 1999 L", with a small square mark at the start of the line.
Base & colour
Clear, slightly blue-tinted base with strong, saturated dye colours; no fading or colour shift seen.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen in this capture; a few faint dark marks on the image area are within the print itself.
Picture
Positive image; the four frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and the animated Pikachu artwork fits a Pokémon title.
Era check
Consistent: Kodak 2383 print stock with a 1999 date code and an optical soundtrack fit a 1999 theatrical trailer print.
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 000070168
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
