History Trivia / HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie

* FranchiseKiller: While the movie's low ratings desensitized production for a reboot, the real damage was to the network's plans to relaunch classic properties: ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLifeStaticCling'' and ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'', already in production, were shelved and then sold to Creator/{{Netflix}}, while further plans (including a rumored theatrical "mega-crossover" film featuring most Nicktoon characters, which could likely have been the starting point for a SharedUniverse) were cancelled by the network's new heads, except for a ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' film and [[WesternAnimation/Rugrats2021 2021 revival]] (though the former was later axed after being removed from Paramount's schedule).

* DirectedByCastMember: In addition to voicing his regular characters and co-writing the movie, Craig Bartlett also served as co-voice director for the movie.

* IKnewIt:
** Many fans guessed that the reason Arnold's parents disappeared was [[spoiler:that they contracted the sleeping sickness that affected the Green-Eyed people themselves and no one had the cure.]]
** Many guessed that [[spoiler:Eduardo was Lasombra, or at least worked for him]] and they were sort of right on that one. [[spoiler:It appears at first that Eduardo was Lasombra the entire time, but it's later shown that Lasombra kidnapped the real Eduardo and impersonated him to gain Arnold's trust.]]
** Although it became a LateArrivalSpoiler, people were delighted to know Arnold's last name really is "Shortman"- though the creator went ahead and confirmed it outright taking the work out of guessing.
** [[spoiler:Yes, Mr. Simmons is indeed dating Peter. Mr. Simmons being gay was more of a closeted implication on the original series, but here, his actions with his partner Peter are obvious enough that it's direct confirmation]].
** People who suspected that [[spoiler:there would be instances of character death involved in the movie due to the PG rating]] discovered that the hard way.

* TalkingToHimself:
** Anndi [=McAfee=] voices both Phoebe (affecting the same childlike timbre she had in TheNineties) and the reporter at the Sunset Arms covering Arnold winning the contest (using her natural adult voice).
** Wally Wingert voices Oskar and Mr. Hyunh, who were originally voiced by two separate actors.
** Of all people, the show's creator Craig Bartlett, who voices ''four'' characters in the movie (Miles, Abner, Brainy, and Monkeyman), to the point of being credited for more roles than veteran [=VA=]s Creator/MauriceLaMarche, Creator/TressMacNeille, and Wingert (see above).
** Lane Toran voices four characters, primarily the tour guide Che, though ironically his two regular roles on the series proper, Arnold and Wolfgang, are not among them.

* AcclaimedFlop: This seems to be the case. Despite being critically well-received (especially over ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheMovie'') , it didn't do so well in ratings. On its premiere date on the main Nickelodeon channel, it had about 1.4 million views in the first hour and roughly 1.1 million views in the second hour during Nick@Nite despite being heavily hyped, though this may have been because it aired against ''WesternAnimation/TrollsHoliday'', a special based on [[WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}} a wildly-popular]] CashCowFranchise among children which got six and a half million viewers. In comparison, the new ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode that preceded it got over 1.6 million views despite it just being a regular episode. The encores that were planned on the main channel for 11:00 am on November 25 and 8:00 pm on December 1 were both pulled, and its current encores are only on [=TeenNick=].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** ''The Jungle Movie'' was originally to have gone into production almost immediately after the first movie premiered ("The Journal" was produced as a lead-in to it), but the failure of ''Hey Arnold! The Movie'' led to it being cancelled. The movie had already been storyboarded and partially animated before being cancelled. A clip from the unfinished movie can be seen [[http://vimeo.com/36323643 here]]. That test scene is not in the produced movie, although it might still count as canon.
** The original plans for the two ''Hey Arnold!'' movies turned out the ''exact opposite'' of how they released: ''Hey Arnold!: The Movie'' was intended as a telefilm, under the name ''Arnold Saves the Neighborhood'' (about the length of three full episodes - this is why "April Fools' Day" and "The Journal" were produced so much later than the rest of the fifth season, to replace them and reach 100 episodes total for the series) and as a prelude to the theatrically-released ''Jungle Movie''.
** A few details in the original script differed from the final version. For instance:
*** Arnold was originally going to win the trip to San Lorenzo through an essay contest rather than his friends submitting a video and the reveal of his last name was going to be done through him signing for a package rather than his passport.
*** Principal Wartz was supposed to have attended San Lorenzo with the class. Wartz ultimately doesn't appear ''at all'' in the final film, not even as a background character in the cameo-palooza early on.
*** Nadine was supposed to receive a much-needed subplot (as she would have been in her element, surrounded by loads and loads of exotic insects) after being either a LivingProp or Rhonda's SatelliteCharacter in the series proper, but in the final product she only had a couple of lines. Her bugs proved useful when [[spoiler:escaping from Lasombra's clutches]], however.
*** Harold, Sid, and Stinky were supposed to have a subplot where they mess around in the jungle and eventually incur the wrath of the wildlife. It would have involved Harold encouraging Sid and Stinky [[LetsSplitUpGang to split up from the others.]]
*** Harvey the Mailman was to have a speaking role after not having spoken at all since "Chocolate Turtles".[[note]]This presumably would have happened during the aforementioned package scene from the original plot.[[/note]] This one not happening is most likely due to Lou Rawls's death in 2006.
*** [[spoiler:TheBigDamnKiss near the end of the film was to have taken place in a very different context in the original: it would have been ''much'' more spontaneous and would have happened before the climax, in the middle of the jungle (and "in the heat of the moment", to echo the first movie). Arnold would still have initiated the kiss, and they still would have been interrupted by Gerald at the end]].
*** At first, Steve Viksten wanted Arnold's parents to end up being [[spoiler:dead]]. When Craig returned to rewrite TJM, he decided against it.
** Reportedly, the film was announced to be a two-part film. The end result wound up being a single part, though it ran in a two-hour timeslot, clocking in at 81 minutes without commercials. Although both hours had their own director.
** Lasombra was originally designed as being [[http://heyarnold.wikia.com/wiki/File:La_Sombra.jpg much older]]. He was redesigned both so that he could convincingly (or not-so-convincingly) pass off as [[spoiler:Eduardo]], and to somewhat resemble his voice actor, Alfred Molina.
** It was originally announced that Wally Wingert would also voice Dino Spumoni. However, Dom Irerra, who played Ernie, happened to come upon Rick Corso when he was doing stand-up to tell him about the movie, and was able to get him to play the role again.
** Alex D. Linz would have reprised his role as Arnold (as would the other cast members who were replaced) had the film been made in the early 2000s as originally intended.
** More like "What Could Have NOT Been": Craig Bartlett confirmed during the interlude that Lila was not supposed to appear in the film at all, but she did show up in the video scene, albeit once again being a voiceless cameo. (She is heard laughing during Eugene's clip, but it's likely stock audio or TheOtherDarrin).
** As revealed in a promo during the [=NickSplat=] premiere of the film, the parade sequence was going to be longer, with Olga appearing as a Carnival Queen on one of the floats and Helga appearing on another float dressed as a monkey.

* FranchiseKiller: While the movie's low ratings avoided the production of a reboot, the real damage was to the network's plans to relaunch classic properties: ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLifeStaticCling'' and ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'', already in production, were shelved and then sold to Creator/{{Netflix}}, while further plans (including a rumored theatrical "mega-crossover" film featuring most Nicktoon characters, which could likely have been the starting point for a SharedUniverse) were cancelled by the network's new heads, except for a ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' film and [[WesternAnimation/Rugrats2021 2021 revival]].

** Creator/VincentSchiavelli, the original voice of Pigeon Man.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: Production of the original film halted in 2001 and was outright cancelled after Paramount refused to green-light it following the flop of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheMovie''. However, after fans began SendingStuffToSaveTheShow towards the end of the decade, the series was VindicatedByReruns in TheNewTens, and Craig Bartlett had returned to Nickelodeon to produce a new show called ''Sky Rat'' (that was not picked up), the decision was made to {{Uncancel|ed}} the film.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: Production of the original film halted in 2001 and was outright cancelled after Paramount refused to green-light it following the flop of ''Hey Arnold! The Movie''. However, after fans began SendingStuffToSaveTheShow towards the end of the decade, the series was VindicatedByReruns in TheNewTens, and Craig Bartlett had returned to Nickelodeon to produce a new show called ''Sky Rat'' (that was not picked up), the decision was made to {{Uncancel|ed}} the film.

** Only a couple actors returned in the Latin Spanish dub: Olga Hnidey (season 2) as Grandma Gertie, Claudia Motta (season 1) as Rhonda, Jorge Ornelas as Mr. Simmons, Creator/LilianaBarba as Arnold's mom, and some of temporary replacement actors.

** Anndi [=McAfee=] as Phoebe.
** Justin Shenkarow as Harold.[[note]] Notably, he's the only actor for the boys who wasn't an adult during the original who was able to reprise his role.[[/note]]
** Olivia Hack as Rhonda.

** Dan Butler as Mr. Simmons.

** Nicolas Cantu[[note]]the same one who voiced Gumball on Cartoon Network's ''The Amazing World of Gumball'' after Jacob Hopkins was let go due to his voice changing[[/note]] replaces Adam Wylie as Curly.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Steve Viksten (Oskar) and Vincent Schiavelli (Pigeon Man) died before the movie could go into its long awaited-production. Their roles were filled in by Wally Wingert and Stephen Stanton, respectively. Lou Rawls (Harvey) also passed away during the hiatus, but his role was not recast.

*** Harvey the Mailman was to have a speaking role after not having spoken at all since "Chocolate Turtles".[[note]]This presumably would have happened during the aforementioned package scene from the original plot.[[/note]] This one not happening is most likely due to AuthorExistenceFailure, as Lou Rawls died in 2006.

** It was originally announced that Wally Wingert would also voice Dino Spumoni. However, Dom Irerra, who played Ernie, happened to come upon Ric Corso when he was doing stand-up to tell him about the movie, and was able to get him to play the role again.

** It was originally announced that Wally Wingert would also voice Dino Spumoni. Dino's original voice actor, Rick Corso, ultimately returned to play him.

* FranchiseKiller: While the movie's low ratings avoided the production of a reboot, the real damage was to the network's plans to relaunch classic properties: The ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' and ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' specials already in production were shelved and then were sold to Netflix, while further plans (including a rumored theatrical "mega-crossover" film featuring most Nicktoon characters, which could likely have been the starting point for a SharedUniverse) were cancelled by the network's new heads, except for a ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' film and revival.

** People who suspected that [[spoiler:there would be instances of CharacterDeath involved in the movie due to the PG rating]] discovered that the hard way.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Due to the 15-year SequelGap, ''The Jungle Movie'' was slightly modernized to add smartphones in the beginning.[[note]]Leaving the movie, which is supposedly set around 2001 in-universe, with 2008-2009 technology.[[/note]] This causes a bit of an AmbiguousTimePeriod via ComicBookTime though, since the original series was quite the '90s product, with Helga's dad being a beeper mogul, which [[DeaderThanDisco went out of business]] by the time of ''The Jungle Movie''.

* FranchiseKiller: While the movie's low ratings avoided the production of a reboot, the real damage was to the network's plans to relaunch classic properties: The ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' and ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' specials already in production were shelved and then were sold to Netflix, while further plans (including a rumored theatrical "mega-crossover" film featuring most Nicktoon characters, which could likely have been the starting point for a shared universe) were cancelled by the network's new heads, except for a ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' film and revival.

* RoleReprise: Though many characters were recast, some of the kids and most of the adults retained their original actors. Such as:

** This was slightly averted following the announcement that Nickelodeon and Netflix partnered to revive more animated programs, and only stopped doing revivals on the main network.

** Nicolas Cantu replaces Adam Wylie as Curly.