my first reaction was what??? and i couldn't breath when i called my friend to tell her the news =[

I can see that it is clearly a money thing and a "we dont have enough blockbusters for next year, so let's just shift our potential biggest moneymaker to a new calendar year" mentality - I UNDERSTAND THAT BIT!!! It is still a bitter pill to swallow when I was so looking forward to, not just to the film, but all the frenzy and merchandise that comes with it....

WTF??? This is not fair! I was going to watch this on my birthday!!! What's this dude's E- Mail? He's gonna get ABUSE!!

Hell Have No Fury Like POTTER FANS Scorned!!!

Of course, that's why this summer had some of the best releases as yet. Like Dark Knight, Indiana Jones: Kingdom of Skulls, Hancock, Made of Honor, and many others (I am NOT going to list them all). Old excuse, if you ask me.

Translation: We can have the DVD out in time for Christmas and make even MORE money

Because they wouldn't be rushing to see "Twilight" less than a month later.

I'm a cynic. They had us all ready and waiting, and then people start speculating that another movie of a similar format (minus magic, wizards, Voldemort, DD's death.....okay, another movie based off a successful book series) might give it a run, and they have to change to summer.

Not cool, WB. NOT COOL.

Shannon

ok peeps relax. i know everyone is upset by this (Merlin knows i still am), but they did say why they're delaying it-- albeit they sugar coated it to the point that it sounds like BS

in other words: WB is in danger of great financial loss in 2009, so we need Harry Potter to bail us out.

thats it plain and simple.

looking at the lineup WB has for 2009, the only movies that optimistically looks to make money would be Watchmen (March 2009) and Terminator Salvation (May 2009), other than those two, no other WB movie completed are sure to make money and most projects are are stuck in development hell (thanks to the strike). even if Watchmen and Terminator turns out to be monster hits the size of The Dark Knight or Spiderman, WB's overhead is so huge they'd wind up with a loss anyway. so they need another sure fire hit at the most lucrative movie season to make them end the year in the black: Harry Potter.

yes it sucks. yes it makes you wanna go AK on the WB head honchos. but Harry Potter, just like everything else WB owns, is an investment, and they will place it anywhere they see fit that will make the most money.

there is a petition online now:

Change the Half-Blood Prince release date back to November 21, 2008 Petition

Whatever the motives behind this are (probably money), I'm kind of glad. I know this isn't the case where the extra time will make the movie more polished, because pretty much everything is wrapped, but the timing works out so much better for me. Instead of having to deal with organizing a midnight outing at college, I can now set something up with my friends back home and not worry about exams and timing and people.

But that July release date is so far from now, but to WB's credit, when it does get released, there will be all those months of anticipation building up, and the result (Box Office Totals) could be huge. Not Dark Knight huge (which I believe is WB's inspiration for the summer shift), but impressive nonetheless.

[checks calendar]
Nope... isn't April Fools... grrrr
OMG. This. Makes. Me. SO. MAD.
I can't believe they would do such a horrible thing! RAWR. [fumes]
[tries to be optimistic] well at least there's still something to look forward to around that same date.... Twilight! Ah I feel a little better now.

Okay guys, let's all please calm down.

Sure, we're all shocked by this decision but in the end, it's going to happen. Let's just calm down, and most importantly, stick to the SS rules.

That means no spamming, double posting, or telling various members several times to do something.

TDK, Indy4, Hancock and many others were finished before the strike took place, if some overlapped they managed to work around it, but any other additional work done wasnt huge enough that it would cripple the prodcution completely. in other words: these films squeeked by just in time before the guillotine fell.


Twilight is not a WB movie. the Harry Potter delay was clearly a financial decision.

you know there was a rumor way back that WB thought of having DH1 come out in 2009 just to offset the loss, but that never happened because it was too much to try to accomplish in so short a period of time. so looks like they chose the next best thing by delaying HBP instead.

Good post. As much as this stings, it makes sense financially for WB. There have already been a few reports that Terminator: Salvation may bomb. Watchmen looks good, but knowing the ending, it may not do well with critics and general movie fans.

Warner doesn't need HP money this year, they need it next year. Capitalism: I hate it, but I love it.

I heard this on the news this morning, im really upset. No matter what date Harry Potter comes out, it will be a huge. Does this mean the video game has changed date to? At least let the video game come out in November.

Well that kinda stinks, but at least it's not like they moved it to 2010 or something like that. We'll just have to wait a couple more months..

I wonder if the Twilight release plays any part... granted Twilight is being released by a fairly small studio, but they're still going to have an amazing showing... maybe they're afraid that after HP6 would have been out a month, people might opt for Twilight b/c the hype from the books is more current... maybe not, but it's worth speculating.

When it comes down to it, the summer is obviously a more profitable release time no matter what movie its going up against, so as disappointed as I am, I'm not entirely surprised by the decision now that I think about it.

Sounds like WB didn't want to have to compete with Twilight when it comes out this year...

Yall I highly doubt this had anything to do with Twilight. Twilight is being released by a different company first off and secondly HBP would have made it's primary gross before Twilight would have even came OUT. This is just WB trying to make more money like Steel said. They didn't have anything huge for next year with the exception of Watchmen & the Terminator movie.

I don't get why some of you guys are posting in links to petitions to stop them from doing this release date pushing. They have already made up their mind, and I'm sure they aren't going to do change what they have planned for the release again. Yes, we are all upset about this change, but it isn't going to kill anyone to wait another half a year. Patience is a vertue.

They have to think of their shareholders and what it means for them if their profits take a nosedive because they have no major release for summer '09. It's not about making more money, it's about making the most of a bad situation.

That is exactly why it isn't about making more money. It's about moving a major blockbuster to a time when they have nothing scheduled to try and limit their losses. It's a knock-on effect of the Writer's Strike that there's less products to market next year.

We don't think so.

We have no idea. Presumably EA will announce something soon.

I'm wondering if this was the reason for the distinct lack of publicity the film received up until recently. They must have had this in the works for a while.

Filming finished in May. The movie was supposed to go to test audiences soon, which indicates they are nearing the final edit.

The cast always see films before an audience. There's nothing new in that.

We're assuming that's been cancelled. No official word yet though.

They will already be at work on the Deathly Hallows game so I doubt they will go back to that. I think they should release the game anyway to tide fans over.

The shooting schedule for DH is Feb. '09 - December '09. That was announced a while ago now.

Unless they can magic another film for summer 2009, that isn't going to work.

They said, it's because of the Writer's Strike.
Those scripts would have been finished long before the strike. Scripts are done months in advance of shooting schedules. The process of film-making, especially blockbusters, takes roughly 18 months from start to finish.

Proof of how long it takes can be seen in the fact that the Writer's Strike delayed Deathly Hallows in the scripting process and also meant that Kloves could not provide daily re-writes for Half-Blood Prince.

Twilight is popular undoubtedly but I really don't see it scaring Warner Brothers.

nah. more likely WB is wishing they optioned Twilight to make up for their projects that never bore fruit.

I can't even find words right now.

Well that really sucks... It was getting so close and now we have an extra 8 months to wait..

I totally agree with you! LoL! I was more playing devil's advocate than really thinking Twilight would scare the bigwigs at WB, but it surely DOESN'T hurt to no longer be going up against a movie of a similar format.

No matter what the reason, we all just have to make peace with this matter *sends soothing spells amongst the crowds*

My friend IMed me about this right when I got online and had to see it for myself. I feel like I could cry... or scream... or both. I'm so angry. I've been waiting so long (so has everyone else here). I can't wait almost a year I can't believe this. It sucks.

I know it's not a WB movie, thus giving it's threat more pause.


*points to several other posts* I'm not so sure. It may pay out, or it may not. HP fans world-wide are ticked off, and there's enough of us now with our own money. I know I already had my plans in place, and now I have to re-do it all, so they can have more money. I think it's time I gave Mr. Simmons more credit: Only spend it if I need it. I don't need to see HBP, I have the book, and, given their record with the movies....I don't know. Instead of the numerous times I was planning to go, I might just go once this time. Twice at the outside most - once to meet the twins (a movie ticket purchase is now required), and once on IMAX...if Andy can talk me into it.


Especially since there's so many other movies. I'm not a WB fan, I'm not a Colombia fan. I'm a fan of the movies, and the actors and actresses. About the only film company I support is Happy Gilmore And, as far as I'm concerned, the only things I enjoy off WB are Animaniacs, HP, and, as a record company, Alice Cooper.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmmaRiddle

Twilight is popular undoubtedly but I really don't see it scaring Warner Brothers.

You never know, Emma. Maybe Across the Universe wasn't a big hit there, but it certainly showed off here. Maybe not "Dark Knight" or "Indy 4" standards, pretty well for an unknown. As was Juno. Two movies that shouldn't have hit the radar are still being talked about, one the middle of a controversy. And this time, Twilight already has the fanbase.