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.”
I APPEAL TO ALL HP FANS TO JOIN THE FACEBOOK COMMUNITY “WE HATE WARNER BROTHERS’’ I’ve already sent a number of hate mails to the WB website…and am up to some more.
Well said, Lena. It is just a film, after all. And I agree that to the general public ( not the Harry-centric universe), the interest is dying down. The move actually puts the release closer to the final two movies which will boost the momentum for them. And, it means with a July 2009 release the DVD release comes out in time for Christmas presents! How’s that for financial planning on WB’s part?!
And Equus has nothing to do with it, if anything, it probably helps the interest in HP! WB supported Dan before and they won’t feel differently this time.
And JKR? She has nothing to do with it either, she does not hold the rights to the movies since she sold them to a big business, a major film studio called Warner Brothers. I do think WB cares about the fans, they just care about money a whole lot more!
I know, it makes everyone feel used and abused, but it’s not personal….they run a business!
It was said that they had been planning to move the release date until next year but didn’t get it finalized until the trailer and the Nov release date was already published…what a crock. HP is one of the top grossing movies of all time, they wouldn’t just “forget” to cancel advertisments for the Nov 08 release.
For everyone asking what Jo thinks, I got a letter from her on Saturday (she wrote it on Friday) and it said ‘Today is the day that Warners announce they’re putting back Half-Blood Prince until next year, so unfortunately I WON’T see you in November’... She didn’t say anything else on it though. I’ve written back saying how angry we all are but I don’t know whether she’ll reply to my letter, and if she does whether she’ll comment on it =P
this is so frustrating… but the comment made about the film being crap and them touching it up kinda makes sense i guess… but i stilllll was so looooking forward 2 seeing it!!!! what the hell waiting a year is enough! im so majorly annoyed is there a pertition i can sign or something?
This is completely unacceptable, to post-pone the movie for this long, and to do it so close to the date. If the movie needs some fixing, let’s say with special effects, then just say so, and the fan base will understand because we all want to see the best movie possible. But if that’s not the case, and W.B. says it’s not, then to delay a release simply to make more money is unbelievably crass as well as being stupid. The W.B. boss points out the HP5 made a lot of money with a summer release, but HP1 made the most money and it was a fall/winter release. Also, HP3 made the least money (but still made a ton) and it was the first summer release in the series, so having a summer release does not guarantee more money, especially when you anger so many fans. No, I believe the real reason is what’s being reported-Dan will be nude and on stage doing Equis on Broadway and they don’t want that associated with Harry-and if that’s the real reason, then it’s even worse than their first reason (greed). To post-pone because of Equis is infantile and puritanical and just another example of how W.B. doesn’t understand how lucky they are to have the biggest, most loyal fan base in pop culture. This franchise has made more money than any other movie franchise in history and they’re either delaying the release for even more money, or because of Dan’s artistic integrity, showing that they have no integrity themselves. If anyone knows of a petition to stop this, please post.
The HBP release date move still hurts, but I’ve had some time to process and I think I’ve had an idea. All of the boycotts, Facebook groups, angry emails, and howler campaigns are great, but they won’t be very effective if they aren’t publicized. And let’s face it, in the eyes of the media we “older” HP fans are no more then trekkies in wizarding robes. Not very worthy of their sympathy or their time. They see Harry Potter strictly as a children’s franchise, so let’s use that. Can you imagine a story on the evening news about a local elementary school spear-heading their own howler campaign? Little 6 year olds painstakingly printing sentences like, “Why did you take Harry away?” on bright red paper. What about all the girl scouts and boy scouts in a small town going door to door (in their uniforms of course) asking their neighbors to sign an anti-WB petition? Warner Brothers may be a media conglomerate, but they don’t own all media. (not yet anyway) They have competitors who would jump at the opportunity to paint the WB as the company that ruined Christmas for millions of HBP loving children. A company that crushes the hopes and dreams of children won’t have a very profitable forth quarter.
Posted by Lamia Callidus 11 on August 19, 2008, 11:53 PM
report to moderator
Hola soy de cordoba Argentina
siempre leo esta web porque
tiene informacion mucho mas
avanzada que las otras web de
latinoamerica, realmente me duele
y mucho que no este harry potter
este año =( no se entiende la decision
de la wb … y espero que el juego si
salga ahora en noviembre
ok so that freaking sucks that this all happened but if what the one guy sed is true that they are making it a better film then it better be one hell of a movie cuz i have been lokking forward to that for a long time and the other person that sed that it was a better nov. winter time of year movie is rite(espiecall because ppl are move likly to go to a movie in the winter then when its summer rite)
oh and to the person that sed “I want to AVADA KEDAVRA their asses!!!” lol im still laughing that was pretty good
but any way if the movie is pushed back for money then that just rediculas b.c they would have made just as much in the winter maybe more probubly more then in the summer…..they are real idiots if thats what was the reason.
I will not be going to any WB movies in the theaters in 2008 or 2009 if the delay goes through, I will wait a little longer and watch what I want on DVD (normally I would see it in the theater AND buy the DVD). I am writing to the theater companies to let them know. Normally I am against Pirated Movies, but if WB keeps the delay I think they deserve to be pirated.
I do not think WB cares about the fans so I am fighting profit with profit. In addition to avoiding the WB movies will also avoid any WB TV shows I would normally watch during the delay. I am contacting Big companies
that advertise on WB’s TV channels to let them know how upset I am with WB and by association any company that supports them. Do they really want me to look somewhere else first in this economy? This is the list I have so far:
Toyota
Honda
Dodge / Chrysler / Jeep
Lexus
Lincoln Mercury
Hyundai
General Motors
AT&T
Expedia
Pfizer / Benadryl
Totino's / Pillsbury
Safeway
Kohl's
I’m pritty upset about WB moving back the movie to next summer, but as long as they don’t move back the game then I can wait another 8 months to see it. I’m sure it will be great.
“Maybe Harry Potter should have brought a note from his parents saying he would be missing school.”
Yeah, why didn’t Harry Potter bring a note from his parents? Geez.
I think they will already lose money on the July 2009 release date. The world wide recession will cut ticket sales that they could have had in November 2008. Has anybody figured out the real reason for the pushback? It is almost 2009 and the clouds should have lifted by now.
"...these mapmakers would have wanted to lure you out of school. They'd think it extremely entertaining."[br]"Do you [i]know[/i] them?" said Harry, impressed.[br]"We've met," he said shortly.
I APPEAL TO ALL HP FANS TO JOIN THE FACEBOOK COMMUNITY “WE HATE WARNER BROTHERS’’ I’ve already sent a number of hate mails to the WB website…and am up to some more.