Released in 1999 by Warner Bros. in the United States following Toho's original Japanese distribution, Pokémon: The Movie brought the Pokémon phenomenon to theatrical scale for the first time. Built around the television and trading card craze that had swept North America, the film and its promotional trailer run were central to one of the most aggressive licensing and merchandising campaigns of the decade. For many collectors this era represents the franchise at its cultural peak, when a single piece of trailer footage carried real promotional weight and was distributed to theaters as its own small artifact of the moment.
This 35mm cell preserves a moment from that trailer featuring Meowth, the talking Pokémon best known as a member of Team Rocket and a fan favorite for his rare gift of speech among his species. A close-up suggests the trailer calling attention to Meowth individually, separating him from the ensemble to let his presence register on its own. For collectors, trailer cells like this one hold a particular appeal: they document the film's marketing life rather than the feature itself, capturing how Pokémon's theatrical debut was introduced to audiences.
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 four frames, the last one partly cut off at the right end.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes; the sound-side perforations sit between speckled dark patches that look like Dolby data blocks.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture as two tracks, with speckled Dolby Digital-style data blocks visible in the gaps between the sound-side perforations.
Edge print
Reads as printed backwards along the top edge: "2383 187 341 1 30 KODAK 28 1999 L", with a small square mark at the end.
Base & colour
Clear base with a slight blue-green tint at the edges; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the frames look clean.
Picture
Positive image. The first three frames are near-identical consecutive frames of one shot and the fourth shows a closer, enlarged view of the same subject; it is an animated image consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Kodak 2383 print stock, a 1999 date code and Dolby Digital data blocks beside an optical track are consistent with a 1999 release print of the film on record.
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 000070170
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
