Trivia / Pokémon Heroes

• Franchise Killer: While it didn't kill the Pokémon film franchise as a whole, nor did it prevent any further English dubs of Pokémon films, Pokémon Heroes became the last film in the series to be released theatrically for more than a weekend in North America. It wouldn't be until 2019 when Pokémon Detective Pikachu was released, with veteran Pokémon partners Warner Bros. returning to distribute.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: A minor example, but still notable in that it’s one of the few movies to not get consistent rereleases. Understandably so, as it and the movie that came before it as well as the two after it’s dubbing rights are owned by the defunct Miramax. More egregiously, the Blu-ray combo packs are only getting harder to find with prices continually rising. Averted as of December 2023, when the rights reverted to The Pokémon Company International, and they released it digitally.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The original Japanese trailer had almost nothing from the final movie. Examples include a reanimated Kabutops skeleton, a monstrous hand made of red and black energy in front of the Defense Mechanism, and the gang standing around a glowing Soul Dew indoors with no sign of Latias.
  • In an interesting case, the trailers also had music that was not used in the movie or included in its soundtrack. It was released on the music's composer in an album a few years later and was the basis for the ending song.
• Screwed by the Network: Like Pokémon 4Ever, the non-Japan distributors Miramax/Disney didn't care at all for the Pokémon franchise and released it to just 200 theaters, ensuring its failure. Miramax's hold on Heroes also made it one of the four movies The Pokémon Company could not re-release on the 20th anniversary of the franchise, nor include in I Choose You's English music video of all previous movies, Twitch Watches Pokemon, or any of the marathons on the Twitch Presents channel. As stated above, the rights have reverted to TPCI.
• What Could Have Been: Supposedly, Latias was originally supposed to join Ash on his journey in the series proper. Why this was changed is unclear, but common reasons include the writers not wanting Ash to have a Legendary to keep the rest of his team from being Overshadowed by Awesome ^note Ash would eventually catch one for real during the Sun and Moon series, a Meltan. and wanting to keep the movies separate in continuity from the series proper.

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