Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Harry Potter VI moved to July 2009

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Ground Level » Harry Potter VI moved to July 2009 (Page 3)

This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

Author

Topic: Harry Potter VI moved to July 2009

Brian Michael Weidemann
Expert cat molester

Posts: 944
From: Costa Mesa, CA United States
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 08-18-2008 03:40 PM

Now that the Dark Knight has been so successful, next year they HAVE to match it, otherwise it will look like they're LOOSING money. Isn't everything all about doing better than "this time last year"? Growth is of utmost importance. If you don't even make what you made a year earlier, you're a failure! Stockholders hate failures. [Big Grin]

Madagascar 2 was slated for a two-week Nov. release from the start, in all IMAX venues, not just digital. Now, since HP6 "got to move it move it", Madagascar can enjoy a run through Christmas.

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-19-2008 12:17 AM

Apparently Warner Bros didn't tell Entertainment Weekly (owned by the same parent company) about the switch -- EW's "Fall Preview" issue just arrived with Harry Potter on the cover, and a 6-page article about "Half-Blood Prince" coming out this November.

Oops.

| IP: Logged

John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 08-19-2008 06:39 AM

quote: Brian Michael Weidemann
next year they HAVE to match it, otherwise it will look like they're LOOSING money. Isn't everything all about doing better than "this time last year"?

'Losing' = lose an 'o'. [Wink]

I can't believe that would be their thinking. If it is then they are bound to lose. How can HPATHBP come close to TDK? It can't and it won't. From what I hear from Potter readers, HPATHBP is one of the weakest books of the series. The movie (as directed by the last one) is bound to match or beat it for that title.

It's in trouble. You don't just move a blockbuster like that from a relatively easy unobstructed window and delay it 8 months into the middle of the peak hour traffic that is called Summer just because of a writer's strike.

Not that we'll ever know, but that's what I think.

quote: Mike Blakesley
Apparently Warner Bros didn't tell Entertainment Weekly (owned by the same parent company) about the switch -- EW's "Fall Preview" issue just arrived with Harry Potter on the cover, and a 6-page article about "Half-Blood Prince" coming out this November.

...and that just makes me believe I'm right all the more.

| IP: Logged

James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 08-19-2008 04:41 PM

The recent Entertainment Weekly with Tropic Thunder on the cover had a mention that Bernie Mac was ailing but is expected to recover...

| IP: Logged

Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 08-21-2008 06:43 PM

I keep seeing "Half-BRAIN Prince"...

Why is this show so hot? SIX pictures already!

| IP: Logged

Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 08-22-2008 03:56 PM

Sony/MGM has moved "Quantum of Solace" back a week to Nov. 14th. instead of Nov. 7th..

| IP: Logged

Paul Linfesty
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1383
From: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-22-2008 07:52 PM

quote:
I keep seeing "Half-BRAIN Prince"...

Why is this show so hot? SIX pictures already!

Because its the sixth book in the most popular book series of all time. And because the seventh and last book is so long (or, if you're cynical, so WB can squeeze an 8th film out of a concluding series) it is being split into half. Although that idea was toyed with on one of the earlier books, and eventually abandoned.

| IP: Logged

Jeremy Weigel
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1062
From: Edmond, OK, USA
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 08-22-2008 11:10 PM

WB still has an 11/21 release date on their exhibitor site. Maybe they might be rethinking this decision?

http://exhibitor2.warnerbros.com/web/exhibitor/login.jsp

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-23-2008 01:39 PM

Nah - the Harry Potter official site has the 2009 date. They update the sites that a lot of people actually look at. The exhib site is visited by what, a few dozen people? Probably low priority.

Here's a letter from Alan Horn, COO of Warner Bros. from the HP site:

quote:
Many of you have written to me to express your disappointment in our moving "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" to Summer 2009. Please be assured that we share your love for Harry Potter and would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films. Over the past 10 years, we have nurtured and protected each film, and the integrity of the books upon which they are based, to the best of our ability. The decision to move "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was not taken lightly, and was never intended to upset our Harry Potter fans. We know you have built this series into what it is, and we thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm and support. If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between "Half-Blood Prince" and the much-anticipated first part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which opens in November 2010. So although we have to wait a little longer for "Half-Blood Prince," the wait from that film until "Deathly Hallows" will be less than 18 months. I am sorry to have disappointed you now, but if you hold on a little longer, I believe it will be worth the wait.

Alan Horn
President, Chief Operating Officer
Warner Bros.

| IP: Logged

Jaime Tuzzio
Film Handler

Posts: 50
From: Salem, OR, USA
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 08-23-2008 10:55 PM

Silver lining? What would have been a two-year gap between #6 and Part One of #7 now is a two-year gap between #5 and #6, with no one prepared for it. Did he actually think this through before trying to console Potter fans?

| IP: Logged

William T. Parr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 823
From: Cedar Park, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 08-24-2008 09:42 AM

Sounds like the standard cop out letter to me.

| IP: Logged

Tim Asten
Film Handler

Posts: 98
From: Brighton, United Kingdom
Registered: Nov 2006

posted 08-27-2008 06:00 AM

Rumour has it that the reason the new Potter film was bumped back a few months was because Daniel Radcliffe is starring in Equus on Broadway at around the same time. The play features Radcliffe in the nude in some scenes apparently [puke]

(depending on your orientation). Warner may have felt that the play may tarnish the family film image that the Harry Potter franchise has if they were on at the same time.

Tim.

| IP: Logged

Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 09-18-2008 03:46 PM

Reelz Channel video about release date changes in the wake of HP's change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtK-xbz3i-8

| IP: Logged

Joe Tommassello
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 547
From: Coatesville, PA, USA
Registered: Jan 2008

posted 09-18-2008 04:11 PM

I wonder if it's what Shane said about there only being a week off from school combined with a weak schedule for next summer (perhaps the right interval for a gap based on the recent strikes in the industry). The school limitation would be even more severe if the film has a long running time. Limited shows in that short window of opportunity and less likely evening business when school is back in.

| IP: Logged

Geena Phillips
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 198
From: Norcross, GA / USA
Registered: Apr 2006

posted 09-20-2008 11:45 PM

What I'm hearing is that, since The Dark Knight did so amazingly well, the muckity-mucks don't feel they need the income from Harry Potter to make it a good fiscal 2008. Whether or not this also says something about WB's confidence in their 2009 product, I don't know.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.