A bit more on the decision to change the release date of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” from November of this year to July 17th, 2009 is now online. The Canadian Press has a new article on the timing of the move and the large feature on the film in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly. The article cites a rep for WB saying the studio had “mulling the date change for three or four weeks,” but “it really didn’t kind of get on the front-burner until sometime within the last seven days,” Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution, said Sunday.
Entertainment Weekly’s “deadline must have been earlier than the decision, than when we started to get serious about making the decision,” Fellman said. The online version of the feature which we told you about here and here contains an update about the release date change as well as the following as noted on the magazine’s Hollywood Insider blog: “EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important … information.”
The blog goes on to joke that the date change will leave Entertainment Weekly “readers in possession of a ‘Dewey Beats Truman’ collectible.” It also notes that British film magazine Empire features Harry Potter on its current cover, though that issue is not strictly a fall preview, touching on big 2009 releases, as well.”
45th! I mean… Wow… I don’t know what the point will be of coming to leaky-news for the next 8 months or so… Seriously… The HBP movie was one of the things I was waiting for the most… What about the EA HBP game? That still hitting November? If it does, I may have to get it just to hold me over… for another 8 months…
No…
Warner Brothers are being stupid… Next they’ll announce the cancelation of movies 7 and 8…
bobtheduck- chances are they will postpone the game as well because the game will feature all the scenes from the film therefore giving away (like we don’t already know) everything that happens. they probably think this will deter certain people from seeing the movie and in turn their ticket sales will decrease (and we all know now how much WB cares so much about $$$)
We’re a Swedish wrock band and we wrote a song about this whole mess. Check it out at myspace.com/swedishshortsnouts ! It’s called “Warner Brothers Suck” and it is a bit more serious than the name suggests. ^^
Posted by The Swedish Shortsnouts on August 17, 2008, 04:25 PM
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I’m just really frustrated about all this.
Is this how they how they care about their fans?
Also HBP doesnt really lend itself to the popcorn action type summer film anyway – I think its tone fits better for a Nov/Xmas release than as a summer blockbuster. People do still go to the movies in the winter and theres less blockbuster type competition (more Oscar hopeful type films this time of year)
“’EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important … information.’”
I’m still disappointed about the decision, but that part was pretty darn funny to read.
if i didn’t know better, reading the quote ’ The July 17 release…offered better box-office potential for Half-Blood Prince’ would make me think Harry potter resided in the bottom of the top 200 all time highest grossing films. WBs must be really postive of the future of the batman francise even without the joker! To treat your highest grossing francise of all time like the naughty child sent to the back of the class because the flashy new kid on the block has the biggest effects is an insult. Forget boycotting harry next year. i say boycott the Dark Knight DVD release.
I think one of worst aspects of this is that it was a decision they made so recently. It really isn’t fair to all the fans that have been anticipating this movie and making plans to watch it around the November date. WB released that awesome trailer and got people so excited only to crush their hopes two weeks later.
I understand they’re a business and they make these movies to earn a profit but would it kill them to treat their customers better? The movie was only 3 months from release! It’s so messed up that they would do this to us so late in the game. especially when they know Harry Potter will do well anytime of the year. The movies have always been successful in winter.
Alan Horn also came off like a jerk when he bragged about seeing the movie and that it was fabulous while telling everyone else they’d need to wait an extra 8 months to see a movie that is already finished. I guess he doesn’t know the meaning of tact. The man must be blinded by dollar signs.
yes,I’m also interested in DH 1 and 2. because part 1 is also(not also any more) in November. what about that? do we have to wait another 4 years for all films? SCANDAL!
Hey don’t give them any ideas bobtheduck! Now we all know WB is probably stupid enough to actually try something like canceling DH part 1&2. lol. Moody One, I’ve been asking the same thing about JKR since Thursday night. Most of the time the media contacts her or her rep for comment when they make any big decisions with the films, example: when they decided to split DH they asked her to comment. Who knows. Actually speaking of JKR, what is going on with the whole lexicon lawsuit, wasn’t the judge expected to make a decision back in April or May? What is taking so long?
It’s best that HBP is being moved… my friend who used to work at WB said that highly anticipated movies are only pushed back THAT far when the initial screen tests are going very poorly.
AKA: They’re putting the film together, and things aren’t going well with test audiences. THAT’S probably the real reason why they’re not releasing it… they’re going to be re-writing, re-shooting and re-editing entire parts of the movie to make it better than it would have been if it was released in November.
Frankly, it sucks that they’re moving it back, but it’s so much better that they’re putting together a better movie. They’re not going to outright say “hey, the movie is sucking so we’re going to try to make it better” so that’s why they came up with their weird, illogical “official” reasoning behind the push back.
I’d rather have a good movie than a hasty movie.
(This is all speculation, so it’s obviously not validated or true by any means, but I’m just taking the word of my friend who worked at WB in the past, because it makes me feel like they’re actually trying to make a good movie, even at the cost of pissing a lot of people off)
Posted by chocolateisnotforbreakfast on August 17, 2008, 04:38 PM
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"I hope you told them to dress properly, these people," he snarled at once. "I've seen the sort of stuff your lot wear. They'd better have the decency to put on normal clothes, that's all."
45th! I mean… Wow… I don’t know what the point will be of coming to leaky-news for the next 8 months or so… Seriously… The HBP movie was one of the things I was waiting for the most… What about the EA HBP game? That still hitting November? If it does, I may have to get it just to hold me over… for another 8 months…
No…
Warner Brothers are being stupid… Next they’ll announce the cancelation of movies 7 and 8…