Something I always wondered was why they didn't just write the GS ball into the plot of the film?
Seems like it would be much easier to have the ball be destroyed or whatever by the film's end rather than have it carry on in the show like a dead paperweight and just hope the audience forget about it.
Or they didn't want the movie to revolve around a plot device that was introduced in the TV show. Things have crossed over, like Dawn's Lunar Wing from Rise of Darkrai appearing in Sleepless in Pre-Battle, but that was a one-off appearance in the series and the movies each whereas the GS Ball was a big thing in getting Ash to the Orange Islands and to Johto.
