Pokémon: The Movie Trailer arrived in 1999 as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's joint push to bring the franchise from television into theaters, riding the first wave of Pokémania sweeping North America. The promotional reels circulated ahead of Pokémon: The First Movie, building anticipation for a story centered on Mewtwo, the lab-born clone engineered from Mew's genetic material. This marketing push was essential to establishing the film as a theatrical event rather than a simple cartoon tie-in, and surviving trailer cells from this campaign document that transitional moment for the brand.
This piece preserves a frame built around Mewtwo and Mew together, the clone and its genetic origin, central figures in the film's conflict between artificial creation and natural existence. Their pairing is the emotional core of the feature, making any cell featuring both characters especially sought after by collectors tracing the franchise's early cinematic identity. As a trailer cell, this frame comes from promotional material designed to introduce audiences to the stakes of the story before the movie's release, a physical artifact of how Pokémon was first sold to American moviegoers as more than a children's show.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie (1999).
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, with two full frames visible on this strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shaped and cleanly punched, with no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs as two bilateral tracks beside the picture, with a dashed cyan-type track line above them, and the data pattern sits between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light blue-tinted base at the edges with a cool dye image; no red shift or fading is evident.
Projection history
Faint hairline marks are visible on the right frame; no splices, cue marks or heavy scratches seen at this size.
Picture
Positive image; the two frames show the same shot and run consecutively, and the numerals 150 and 151 match a Pokémon: The Movie trailer.
Era check
Consistent with a late-1990s release print: a Dolby-style two-track optical stereo soundtrack on a standard 35mm base fits a 1999 theatrical 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 000071036
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
