While we have new photos from “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” and news about “Deathly Hallows” (see below) to occupy our time, reaction to the news that HBP has been pushed back until next July continues to dominate the press. Today, the LA Times has a new article online that notes the furious reaction by Harry Potter fans (“among the most intense devotees in contemporary pop culture”), and points out that “petitions were circulating, rumors were flying and angry screeds were being posted on Internet sites within minutes of the Thursday announcement.” The fact that fans were upset with the announcement of the new release date was not lost on Warner Bros president Alan Horn. The LA Times included this gem that reads as follows. “Horn acknowledged that the studio would have to pacify fans in the months to come: “We would never do anything to hurt one of the movies or the series. We love our fans.”
On a related note, the rescheduling of the film has impacted other events tied in to the previously scheduled release this fall. The BBC reports that indeed the Royal Performance and UK premiere of the film had been canceled.But he was hopeful a Royal premiere would still go ahead this year.
In the same article, WB’s Alan Horn is also cited as saying “I’ve seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.”
Among all the disappointment, there is a bit of bright news for IMAX who announced that “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince would be screening on the day of release, July 17, 2009. Reps for the company also said that “when “Harry Potter” does open next summer, it will appear in close to 100 of its new digital theaters, as opposed to about 40 estimated to be in operation by November. “It’s a better revenue opportunity for us at that point.” IMAX says that, as announced previously, they will also release HBP which will contain parts of the film in 3-D.
Guys, you overlooked another piece of information: the “Philosopher’s Stone”/”Sorcerer’s Stone” movie was originally slated to be released July 2001, but they pushed it back to November. (Says so on the Wikipedia citation link.)
HBP’s pushback isn’t the only Potter film to be delayed… have most of you forgotten that? Were most of you fans angry with the PS/SS delay from July to November 2001? There’s more you guys need to look into, such as the WGA strike—which is the principal delay so that the WB can cover their butt should “Watchmen” and “T4” bomb and/or underperform in the 2009 summer schedule.
You guys really need to look at it from different perspectives, rather than just taking the angry fan approach. I’m certainly NOT supporting the WB’s decision in any case and would be more than happy to see it moved BACK to winter 2008. But I’m certainly not supporting a boycott either.
Dear Warner Bastards,you a* won’t behave at all. you are F* A H**. I am warning you if u don’t release the movie on 21 November then you are not gonna see the morning of 22 by any chance. this postpone will bring you down to the streets full of sewers.(being my politest best) with luv 4m YOUR DEVIL">DEATH
I say we do it all: boycott all the Warner brothers movies, as well as IMAX theaters, and the opening weekend of HBP in July 2009. I also wrote my decision to Warner brothers about my decision to boycott.
All that Mr. Allan and all WB workers are saying is called “humbug” in Hungarian (my native language). If I’m not very mistaken that’s “bulls**t” in English…
Im confused now apart from money what other excuse do they have for moving the date? if he has seen the film in its fall length, why cant we!!!! :’( why dont they just say “we have moved it to make more money, tough on u!” – oh wait thats what they HAVE said. bad PR very bad, we know its their job to make the most money possible but to do it so openly and with no thought what so ever to the people they are selling to, thats very bad business PR!!! Sorry to go on, cheers for letting me rant! :-)
Matthew: PS/SS is irrelevant. That was then, this is now. Clearly it’s too late to boycott a movie that has long since been and gone. I probably didn’t even know Leaky existed back then. (Did it? I can’t be bothered trawling back through archives to check).
As for the second point, you are simply repeating the same reason WB has given for moving the film, they’re knocking it over to July 2009 because they lacked the empathy required to prevent a writer’s strike and ended up with no blockbusters lined up for summer 2009. Now they are trying to pass off their shortcomings onto consumers. No thanks.
You don’t have to support a boycott, that’s perfectly fine. That’s your choice and I respect it.
However, we can cut through the cynicism and build up an effective boycott which extends beyond the core fandom. That is completely possible if we all actually boycott, instead of just talking about it. Saying that nobody will end up boycotting is pointless. They either will or won’t, and I’ll do my best to see that they will. Yes, WB will spend the next nine months releasing trailers and attempting to build hype. Whoop de do. Many are saying that they will be successful and that we will have forgotten about the whole thing by next year. We shall see if they are right.
This is no angry fan response. We’ve all had days to calm down and think it over after the initial shock, and other things going on in our lives.
Anne-Marie: It would be great if you could find a way to not buy a full-price ticket for HBP at all, by buying a ticket for a non-WB movie and simply walking into the Half-Blood Prince cinema (you are not likely to be stopped if the cinema does not have allocated seating) or waiting for the film to hit the discount cinemas, and buying a ticket for 50c or a dollar. Or the equivalent in you local currency. Either way, please try to get other fans, as well as family, friends and casual movie-goers to boycott with you. Good luck!
I think a great deal of fans will attempt to download the movie online in retaliation. No trip to the movies = no profits for greedy WB. Illegal? Yes. But I can’t say such a boycott wouldn’t serve them right.
I think a lot of fans would say that would be an excellent idea, Mish.
I need also remind everyone that the core HP fans most likely make up the bulk of the repeat viewers. I have seen each film 5 to 8 times in the cinema with the exception of PS/SS. Taking away those repeat viewers could make a bigger difference than expected. That said, we can’t count on just that. We need to get casual fans, and our families, friends, anyone we can to boycott. We can go for the latter groups closer to the release day. It’s not like they’ll remember if we tell them now.
i love how all you people are talking about boycotting everything….i’m positive every one of you who are calling alan a “hypocrite” are going to turn into one yourselves…i can see it now…all dressed up and in line for 3 days. stop talking crap and chill out… we are all upset about the pushback and i trully believe that NARGLES are behind this….haha….oh lightlen up!!!!
Posted by C-looney Lovegood on August 17, 2008, 07:00 PM
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Whatever you say, loony dear. =)
Seriously, cynicism isn’t going to deter us. It’s not really in anyone’s personal interests to try and discourage people from boycotting, so i don’t know why you are. Oh well.
I’m confused…..... every time i read the comments about boycutting I feel like we could REALLY hit WB where it hurts, their pockets obviously! but then, what does that mean for Harry Potter? sure I can go see HBP only once, and later rather than sooner too, and that would definitely mean depriving WB of ALOT of money, which is all they care about, but I don’t want to.I WANT Harry Potter to get more money than other movies – that’s how people define how good a movie does, box office rates, right?
Maybe If there was no competition, if Twilight didn’t exist, if Dark Night didn’t do so good that people are starting to say crazy things like “fyi, it made more money than Potter”, If HSM3 wasn’t going to be a new kind of unprecedented movie phenomena ( it’s the first HSM in cinema, that WILL be phenomenal) that’s sure to blow the box office….etc., then maybe I would boycutt, but that’s not how things are, there IS competition and – team Switzerland as I am or not – I WILL NOT have people saying that Twilight has surpassed Harry Potter in the Box Office shudder or made more money or had more audience or any of that crap! I just won’t let Harry Potter become anything less than what it already is! I won’t let some other movie or series make more money! I WON’T turn on Harry – I know that it’s WB we’re all trashing, NOT Harry, but face it, WB IS Harry! sad, disgusting, but true.
The main Warner Offices/Studios are in Burbank, in Southern California. I’d LOVE to see the same fans that spent the night near Hollywood Blvd. in July of last year to see the OOTP Premiere arrivals and an additional night to see Rupert, Daniel and Emma get their Hand/Foot/Wand Prints on the Walk of Fame protesting WB.
There were thousands there; if these same thousands were to stage a protest outside Warner’s Burbank offices I am certain that we’d have their attention.
THERE IS NO OTHER REASON FOR THE DELAY OF THE FILM OTHER THAN MONEY. And WB along with the other major studios brought this upon themselves by again being greedy bastards whose self interest caused the very writer’s strike which they now blame for everything.
I live in Century City, CA and there are loads of Studios, Post-Production Facilities, etc within a 4 mile radius. Most of the striking writers were not the millionaire types, but middle income folks who wouldn’t get an appropriate share of digital download profits from the studios; so their last resort was to strike.
My daughters and I have been into potter since 2000, when I began to read the books to my then seven year old daughter, now we’re a family of 4 Hard Core HP fans, we go to the openings in full Gryffinfdor gear, and go often thereafter. If a full blown boycott of all AOL/TIME/WARNER fails, then let’s give them a dark Christmas Season, and a darker July ‘09 opening weekend.
Did you know that Warner owns the Reprise record label? Home to Green Day? They own, or are partners in a lot of TV shows, as well as AOL, Time Magazine, etc. Face it, the HP actors have signed contracts that are not going to change despite how much the movie makes. A boycott will NOT hurt Harry Potter, it will hurt the conglomerate that is WB/Time/AOL….
"But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like his father?"[br]"Yes, I have," said Sirius proudly.[br]"Well then, you'll know he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him," Snape said sleekly.
dear warner bros. what in the HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? you are worse than mush,osama and hitler put together six times.SHAME ON YOU!