Way to annoy the fans, WB: Half-Blood Prince film suddenly moved to summer '09

[dianeduane]

Here’s the announcement via MarketWatch.

Warner Bros. says they’re rescheduling “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” because summer releases are better for family-oriented “tentpole” projects, and because the Writers’ Guild strike of late ‘07 / early ‘08 has unpredictably changed the pattern of other studios’ film releases for ‘08 / ’09.

While those are both believable claims, you can bet that a lot of people aren’t accepting them at face value. (This LA Times article suggests, among other things, that it’s Batman’s fault.)

I get the feeling that Warner’s going to have to do more than just whimper “We love our fans…” to derail the anger over this…

(ETA: Nikki Finke's take on the situation, from Deadline Hollywood Daily: with a rant from Entertainment Weekly)

Tags: Warner+Bros, Harry+Potter+and+the+Half-Blood+Prince, Rowling, delay, reschedule, anger

Comments

[hrrunka]

I'm wryly amused by the following comment in the BBC report:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been chosen for this year's Royal Film Performance, on 17 November.

[cuddles-batcave.livejournal.com]

I haven't broken the news to the kids yet but I can assure you that they will be very upset. They have been looking forward to the next movie for ages!

On top of that, having been announced as the Royal Film Performance for this year, it will have to be cancelled again (at least this time a more appropriate movie was selected unlike the last time a RFP was cancelled).

This is just typical of WB and it seems their executives have never learned from past mistakes. Remember the fiasco of the last season of BABYLON 5? It has been clear to most of us, not just genre fans, that WB is motivated by money.

Why did they even bother releasing the trailer? Now it's torture just watching it and second guessing what's in and what's not, from the books!

I WANT TO SEE IT IN NOVEMBER 2008, ASSHOLES! AND SO DO MY KIDS!

*Extremely miffed rant over*

[hrrunka]

Yeah. That sound you hear is W.B. shooting its own feet off...