Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince Thread (SPOILERS)

[Mooky]

David Suchet would have been an amazing Slughorn .

[PixarFan2006]

I saw the teaser trailer on Reelz Channel a few days ago, and it looks okay, but it may be even weaker than OotP. Plus, HBP was my least favorite of the series. It just did not interest me and some of the chapters were boring.

I agree about Dobby not being in the other movies. He HAS to be in the Deathly Hallows movie or else it will have problems plotwise.

[Mooky]

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" will be released in July 2009!

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site ... ewsLang=en

God, I hope it's just some stupid rumor

[Widdi]

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" will be released in July 2009!

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site ... ewsLang=en

God, I hope it's just some stupid rumor

Nope. WB confirmed the info to the-leaky-cauldron.org and harrypotter.com has been updated with the date: July 17th, 2009.

This is utter BS. Once again WB proves they care more about money than pleasing Potter fans.

[PatrickvD]

I think they're having trouble getting it done in time.

[Dottie]

Oh man, I was looking forward to another Potter winter (don't ask me why, I've always associated HP with winter) so much and pushing it back almost a full 8 months borders on the ridiculous.

[azul017]

The reasoning behind the push to July 17, 2009 is likely one of the following reasons:

- Since that proposed "Justice League" movie will never make it to the screen, the WB pushed this film to July in order to have a 2009 summer blockbuster tentpole ready and rearing to go.
- The movie studio really wants to shorten the waiting period between this flick and the two-part finale.

Either way, the WB should've notified people of the push back a couple of months ago. Pushing it back a mere three months before it was originally supposed to be shown has already angered a LOT of people.

[Disneykid]

I think what ticks me off most is the likelihood that WB knew about this for some time and just didn't want to announce anything till the "time was right." This would explain releasing the first teaser a mere four months before release date (Harry Potter teasers have debuted as early as eight months in advance), no teaser poster, and a small collection of promotional stills.

I do like the fact that the final three movies (HBP and both parts of DH) will be released in consecutive years without harming the quality (HBP will be done shooting in a month or so, and DH begins filming early next year). They're so linked together that it makes sense to release them close to each other.

The other possible good thing to stem from this is that, with the added amount of post-production time, David Yates and Steve Kloves may go back and add clues that foreshadow Deathly Hallows. The script had long been finished by the time the DH novel was released, and no one outside of the cast and crew is sure how much of the HBP film was changed as a result of this. Now would be the perfect opportunity to create more links between the two stories.

I'm still disappointed, though, especially since I associate Harry Potter more with fall than summer. Luckily, next summer doesn't seem to be as congested as this one was, so the film should be able to breathe (though it would've breathed just fine this fall with only Bond as competition, but I digress).

[buffalobill]

Well, that just ruined Thanksgiving week 2008 for me.

[buffalobill]

I wonder if this is being done because of the theme park. With a November release the dvd would've come out Spring 2009. With a July 2009 release the dvd will be coming out right around the time Universal's Harry Potter Park opens. They've always liked tie-ins like a book & a movie (or a dvd & a theme park). The dvd could come with a coupon towards admission or add on to a one year pass (like the McDonald's Simpsons cup this year). Just thinking out loud. All I know is I'm steamed. I was really looking forward to it in November. The only real blockbuster now is Quantum of Solace for the Fall/Winter schedule.

[Widdi]

At least WB isn't trying to hide the fact that move was done purely to make more money. They are saying there was an open weekend in the 2009 summer season so they put a big movie in that place. The movie, according to them, is actually in the final stages of post-production and was supposed to go to test audiences next month.

The problem WB is that this is a movie that isn't going to attract a larger audience given the release date. Pretty much everybody who was going to see it opening weekend knew they would see it opening weekend. If anything the move is only going to piss off a devoted fan base who have the power to turn this into a summer flop if they want to. Harry Potter isn't magically (no pun intended) going to gain a bunch of new fans just cause the movie opens in July.

There are major calls from fans all over the world to boycott the movie opening weekend just to show WB how mad me are. If we can waut an extra 8 months we can wait a week or two more...

Way to go WB, hope you enjoy the fallout from this decision.

[magicalwands]

I've rewritten my post ten times now because really, there is no way I can express to WB how mad I am about this. I really could care less how it shortens the time release from Half-Blood Prince to Deathly Hallows Part 1. Well, WB won't get my $10 next July.

It's ironic really. They thought this would make it better for themselves, but they just made it worse.

[Old Fish Tale]

I hate Warner Brothers!

[PeterPanfan]

I saw this last night, but was too furious to even respond. Do you think if we send letters/e-mails to them, they'll move it back to the original release date?

[JiminyCrick91]

I saw this last night, but was too furious to even respond. Do you think if we send letters/e-mails to them, they'll move it back to the original release date?

No. This was posted on leakynews.com ... http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/ ... e-our-fans Mostly what is said are more excuses of why it is happening and that many petitions and emails came in within minutes of the announcement.

-Sky

[Siren]

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" will be released in July 2009!

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site ... ewsLang=en

God, I hope it's just some stupid rumor

Sonofa....

[SpringHeelJack]

The only way you'll really let Warner Bros. know you're annoyed is if everyone online who complains about it and says they're not going to see it when it comes out in July REALLY doesn't see it when it comes out in July. No amount of e-petitions is going to change this. You want to let them know you're annoyed, don't give them your money.

Me, I'm annoyed. But not enough to sit and moan. I'm still going to be seeing it midnight opening night.

[lord-of-sith]

This was supposed to come out on my birthday Happy Birthday to me...

When I first read this on Mugglenet, I literally had to re-read it ten times to make sure I was reading it right! I'm very pissed about it.

But, I'm not gonna lie, the fact that it's in the summer means that I actually will see it at midnight (as opposed to on a school night). No matter how pissed I am, it's still Harry Potter. I know that means I'm playing right into WB's hands, but what else can I do? I love Harry Potter!

They just couldn't let me have the big HP opening day birthday celebration!

[SofaKing381222]

ugh. That is all I can say... ugh.

[PeterPanfan]

Well, Twilight is now being pushed up to November 21 to fill HBP's spot. EA is unsure whether they will release the video games in November or not, and WB has supposedly admitted that "they love their fans."