Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's effort to prime American audiences for the feature film adaptation of the phenomenon sweeping television, trading cards, and handheld consoles. Released during the height of Pokémania, the trailer served as an early promotional artifact, distributed to theaters on 35mm ahead of the main event, introducing moviegoers to the clash between Mewtwo and Mew before the film itself hit screens. It stands as a time capsule of the franchise's first theatrical push, preserved in a format that was already becoming a relic even as it carried a thoroughly modern cultural wave into cinemas.
This cell preserves a moment from that promotional reel, built around the pairing of Mewtwo and Mew, two of the franchise's most sought-after figures. Mew represents the mythical origin point of the Pokémon lineage, while Mewtwo is its engineered counterpart, and their shared presence in a single strip of film reflects the thematic core the movie was built on. As a trailer cell, this piece comes from material meant to entice rather than narrate, a fragment of early marketing history rather than the finished story. Collectors prize such pieces for their proximity to the franchise's theatrical debut.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations span each frame along both edges, and the strip holds two complete frames, numbered 150 and 151.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle holes that look cleanly punched; the soundtrack side shows eight holes across the two frames.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with a dashed timecode-style line above it; the gaps between the lower perforations hold speckled blocks consistent with Dolby Digital data.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear to slightly cool base; the dye image looks blue-dominant and neutral, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices on the two frames.
Picture
Positive image; the two frames run consecutively as one shot and match the numbered countdown-style trailer card, with nothing contradicting the film on record.
Era check
Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks fits a late-1990s 35mm release print, so it is consistent with a 1999 trailer.
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 000071035
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
