New Harry Potter Film Pushed Back to 2009
For Business Purposes Potter Fans Will Have to Wait Six More Months
Aug 16, 2008
The buzz created by the new Harry Potter trailer has left Harry Potter fans, who are addicts, anxious. Warner Bros. released a statement August 15, 2008 saying that the new Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, is moved from its November 21 release date to a later date. July 17, 2009 is the new release date for the widely anticipated movie, the move from Warner Bros. is caused by the U.S.A writers strike.
The Warners release said, “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.”
What audiences will have to wait for
This sixth installment of the Harry Potter Series was going to take the audience into the past to see the story behind Harry Potter's arch-nemesis Lord Voldemort. In the the heavily circulated trailer, we get a look into Dumbledore's memory to see the first time he met a 11-year-old Tom Riddle, rumored to be played by Ralph Fiennes, who grew to be Voldemort.
On the set interviews by Ben Lyons with the cast reveal that a lot of script was taken from the book, so Potter fanatics will have to wait longer, but it'll be worth it.
The move would mean a two year gap between the last Harry Potter Movie and this one, but it would also mean a lesser gap between the last two movies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows set to be released late 2010 and early 2011.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is right now in production, this last adaptation of the book series is being spilt into two movies.
Reaction from Other Studios
Summit Entertainment said that director Catherine Hardwicke's adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's best-selling book Twilight will be released on Nov., 21, three weeks earlier than was initially planned. The studio is taking advantage of Warner Bros.' to postpone its upcoming Harry Potter movie to next summer. If this move doesn't cement Twilight as the next Harry Potter, nothing will.
CNBC's Reel Business said that the move would portray the Warner Bros. quarterly estimates in 2009 as a secure one compared to the success of 2008's Dark Knight.
