This is Why I Hate Capitalism
From HPANA:
Update: 'Half-Blood Prince' release moved to July 17, 2009
AUGUST 14, 2008 at 4:20 PM
Posted by GERI
Source: Business Wire
Warner Bros. has just announced that the release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been pushed back and will be released on July 17, 2009 instead of this coming November. This news has been confirmed to HPANA by Warner Bros.
Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros. stated:
Our reasons for shifting Half-Blood Prince to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films-changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move Half-Blood Prince to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.
Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, confirmed:
The release date change does not alter the production schedule for this or future Harry Potter films. Post-production on Half-Blood Prince was completed on time, and the studio’s release plans for the two-part Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will not be affected by this change. We know Harry Potter fans are eagerly anticipating seeing the final chapters unfold onscreen. In fact, the good news for them is that the gap will now be shortened between Half-Blood Prince and the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
While producer David Heyman offered:
When Jeff Robinov explained the rationale behind moving the release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to July 2009, it was immediately apparent that this offered us the potential to reach the widest possible audience. I am extremely proud of this latest film and of the work of David Yates and our incomparable cast; I believe we have developed and pushed the series further still. We are all looking forward to sharing it with Harry Potter fans around the world, even if we have to wait just a bit longer.
UPDATE: The official Potter site has been updated with the new release date.
UPDATE II: We don't normally do this, but fan reaction to this news is understandably heated (to put it mildly) and we thought it would be fun to post links to petitions that will try to convince WB to rethink their decision. (No offense, but it will have no effect whatsoever except to make them feel bad -- momentarily -- before going back to counting money --Ed., Cheeser.) Feel free to send links to any petitions you find!
Petition
Petition
Petition
UPDATE III: IMAX was apparently caught by surprise. They've just released a very short statement concerning the change:
Reflecting today's announcement that the release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has moved to July 2009, IMAX Corporation confirmed it is already exploring alternative titles for this year's holiday season and is confident it will secure a solid film for the IMAX(R) theatre network.
UPDATE IV: Hold on to your hats, folks. Studio head Alan Horn told the Associated Press today after the announcement:
"The picture is completely, absolutely, 100 percent on schedule, on time. There were no delays. I've seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November."
******
YOU BLOODY BASTARDS.
Never mind that the November 21st date had been announced over a year in advance. Never mind that teaser trailer already been released. Never mind that the countdown had reached double digits. Never mind that very well thousands of fans had been looking forward to November.
Damn your capitalistic greed. WB, you basically admitted that you want more money from us. Are you even serious??? There's no valid reason to postpone the screening for another 9 months. The movie's done. I can understand if post-production needed sprucing up but the film's complete and ready for November. We're talking about one of the world's most successful franchises. YOU WILL MAKE MONEY EITHER WAY.
There's a thing called weekends. And Thanksgiving break. And winter holidays. People would go see the movie anyway. Whereas people are frequently away on vacation during the summer.
THE MOVIE HAD NO COMPETITION IN NOVEMBER!!! There was only Twilight to contend with. By next summer on the other hand, the industry will have recovered from the writers' strike slump. Who are the idiots losing revenue now??? You sure as hell are making fans boycott.
JUST LOOK AT THE NOVEMBER VS. SUMMER STATS:
We also have to look at the fact that the two Potter films released during the summer season earned $292,004,738 for Order of the Phoenix and Prisoner of Azkaban brought in $249,541,069. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone made $317,575,550, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets made $261,988,482 and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire made $290,013,036 all in November. Sure, Order of the Phoenix is #2 on the list when it comes to Potter box-office, but only $2 million more than Goblet of Fire, but considering Order of the Phoenix was screened on approximately 400 more screens I would say it is pretty much a tie.
I read the news through my LJ RSS HPANA feed yesterday just as I was posting, and I swear I thought this was some warped online version of "Punk'd". WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, WB?
By God, I need to hunt down an IMAX. At least they have enough sense to uphold the original release date.
ETA Sunday, August 17, 14:23: As if things aren't bad enough, Twilight snatched HBP's original release date in less than 24 hours of the change.
Honestly, why is it the HP fandom's problem that because WB has been capitalising off a talented deceased actor without anticipation, it's an inconvenience that make TOO MUCH PROFIT in 2008. No, clearly it's not enough for two major 2008 blockbusters to hold you, over in a crummy 2009, movie-industry wise.
I am contemplating partaking in a passive form of boycott. It's a matter of principle. By handing over the dough to WB in July, we let WB take advantage of us as customers as they disrepectfully knew would be the case. Many fans are considering paying a ticket for a non-WB movie and sneaking in to see HBP regardless.
This is an utter lack of professionalism. Even, Entertainment Weekly, run by sister company Time-Warner, was kept out of the loop. "EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important friggin’ information."
Then President Alan Horn goes and says "We love our fans." Then they release a handful of hi-res photos to placate us. Don't make me laugh.
Business is business, sure. Profit is a princpal end, sure. But the profit comes from satisfied investors. And this is how you repay us. They push back our film 8 months because they THINK they will benefit in the long run. I'm not so sure about a guaranteed net gain now.
Update: 'Half-Blood Prince' release moved to July 17, 2009
AUGUST 14, 2008 at 4:20 PM
Posted by GERI
Source: Business Wire
Warner Bros. has just announced that the release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been pushed back and will be released on July 17, 2009 instead of this coming November. This news has been confirmed to HPANA by Warner Bros.
Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros. stated:
Our reasons for shifting Half-Blood Prince to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films-changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move Half-Blood Prince to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.
Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, confirmed:
The release date change does not alter the production schedule for this or future Harry Potter films. Post-production on Half-Blood Prince was completed on time, and the studio’s release plans for the two-part Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will not be affected by this change. We know Harry Potter fans are eagerly anticipating seeing the final chapters unfold onscreen. In fact, the good news for them is that the gap will now be shortened between Half-Blood Prince and the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
While producer David Heyman offered:
When Jeff Robinov explained the rationale behind moving the release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to July 2009, it was immediately apparent that this offered us the potential to reach the widest possible audience. I am extremely proud of this latest film and of the work of David Yates and our incomparable cast; I believe we have developed and pushed the series further still. We are all looking forward to sharing it with Harry Potter fans around the world, even if we have to wait just a bit longer.
UPDATE: The official Potter site has been updated with the new release date.
UPDATE II: We don't normally do this, but fan reaction to this news is understandably heated (to put it mildly) and we thought it would be fun to post links to petitions that will try to convince WB to rethink their decision. (No offense, but it will have no effect whatsoever except to make them feel bad -- momentarily -- before going back to counting money --Ed., Cheeser.) Feel free to send links to any petitions you find!
Petition
Petition
Petition
UPDATE III: IMAX was apparently caught by surprise. They've just released a very short statement concerning the change:
Reflecting today's announcement that the release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has moved to July 2009, IMAX Corporation confirmed it is already exploring alternative titles for this year's holiday season and is confident it will secure a solid film for the IMAX(R) theatre network.
UPDATE IV: Hold on to your hats, folks. Studio head Alan Horn told the Associated Press today after the announcement:
"The picture is completely, absolutely, 100 percent on schedule, on time. There were no delays. I've seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November."
******
YOU BLOODY BASTARDS.
Never mind that the November 21st date had been announced over a year in advance. Never mind that teaser trailer already been released. Never mind that the countdown had reached double digits. Never mind that very well thousands of fans had been looking forward to November.
Damn your capitalistic greed. WB, you basically admitted that you want more money from us. Are you even serious??? There's no valid reason to postpone the screening for another 9 months. The movie's done. I can understand if post-production needed sprucing up but the film's complete and ready for November. We're talking about one of the world's most successful franchises. YOU WILL MAKE MONEY EITHER WAY.
There's a thing called weekends. And Thanksgiving break. And winter holidays. People would go see the movie anyway. Whereas people are frequently away on vacation during the summer.
THE MOVIE HAD NO COMPETITION IN NOVEMBER!!! There was only Twilight to contend with. By next summer on the other hand, the industry will have recovered from the writers' strike slump. Who are the idiots losing revenue now??? You sure as hell are making fans boycott.
JUST LOOK AT THE NOVEMBER VS. SUMMER STATS:
We also have to look at the fact that the two Potter films released during the summer season earned $292,004,738 for Order of the Phoenix and Prisoner of Azkaban brought in $249,541,069. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone made $317,575,550, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets made $261,988,482 and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire made $290,013,036 all in November. Sure, Order of the Phoenix is #2 on the list when it comes to Potter box-office, but only $2 million more than Goblet of Fire, but considering Order of the Phoenix was screened on approximately 400 more screens I would say it is pretty much a tie.
I read the news through my LJ RSS HPANA feed yesterday just as I was posting, and I swear I thought this was some warped online version of "Punk'd". WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, WB?
By God, I need to hunt down an IMAX. At least they have enough sense to uphold the original release date.
ETA Sunday, August 17, 14:23: As if things aren't bad enough, Twilight snatched HBP's original release date in less than 24 hours of the change.
Honestly, why is it the HP fandom's problem that because WB has been capitalising off a talented deceased actor without anticipation, it's an inconvenience that make TOO MUCH PROFIT in 2008. No, clearly it's not enough for two major 2008 blockbusters to hold you, over in a crummy 2009, movie-industry wise.
I am contemplating partaking in a passive form of boycott. It's a matter of principle. By handing over the dough to WB in July, we let WB take advantage of us as customers as they disrepectfully knew would be the case. Many fans are considering paying a ticket for a non-WB movie and sneaking in to see HBP regardless.
This is an utter lack of professionalism. Even, Entertainment Weekly, run by sister company Time-Warner, was kept out of the loop. "EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important friggin’ information."
Then President Alan Horn goes and says "We love our fans." Then they release a handful of hi-res photos to placate us. Don't make me laugh.
Business is business, sure. Profit is a princpal end, sure. But the profit comes from satisfied investors. And this is how you repay us. They push back our film 8 months because they THINK they will benefit in the long run. I'm not so sure about a guaranteed net gain now.