Take cover, Warner Bros.: Muggles everywhere are furious

Maybe they can send boxes of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes' Puking Pastilles over to the studio in protest.

After Warner Bros. announced Thursday afternoon it was pushing the premiere date of the next Harry Potter film “Half-Blood Prince” from November to July 2009, a petition of outrage immediately went up.

And just an hour after it launched, nearly 1,500 signatures had already been collected.

“I support this petition. I also support a movement to boycott all other Warner Brothers releases until they change it back,” wrote Tim Thurmeier.

Over at mega fansite MuggleNet.com, more than 400 angry fans have already complained about the longer wait.

Wrote hpninjaskills: “Someone better open up a cell in jail because I`m ready to murder. Just when we were under 100 days, we are back to over 100. I am angry ... totally shocked. I am in tears right now. I can't believe it.”

To be precise, fans that were expecting to see the film in three months will now have to wait 11.  As in nearly a year. Needless to say they’re none too happy.

Jessica D on cinematical.com warned that “They better not try to milk the penultimate movie in the series for too long... else people are just going to forget the enthusiasm over the movies, since the books are already over anyway.” And Chad speculated that “the one and only reason for this move is The Dark Knight. Unimaginative WB bosses think Harry Potter is their best chance at replicating that success so clearly it should open on the same date.”

Over at slashfilm.com, Hunter Stephenson surmised, “Hmm, maybe Warner Bros. [thinks] T4 will underperform?” But most, like emily, were just plain upset: “I’m seriously angry. First [they] move back Star Trek and now HP? Why are these studios tormenting me???”

-- Denise Martin

RELATED Click here for all "Harry Potter" coverage at Hero Complex and the latest on the "Great Muggle Rebellion of 2008"

Comments

[CEK]

WB can suck it. I can't believe they even tried to say something like "We love our fans" and then go on to say that its really all about the money. Completely two-faced. What a terrible company. I wish the rest of the HP movies could go a different direction bc WB is horribly greedy and selfish, only looking out for their own pocketbooks. Give me a break, "we love our fans." WHAT A LIE.

[Julia]

Agreed CEK. If WB love anything it's their bottom line and that's all. Their actions tell us that as far as they're concerned the fans don't matter at all. WB are blinded by dollar signs. It's a shame.

[lynn]

i agree that we should boycott all warner brothers movies. this is a travesty

[Michael B]

First they make us wait and wait and wait for a trailer, then they roll it and get everybody completely excited... and now this. What a bunch of money-grubbing b-stards. I'm ready to boycott this movie to show them that this will not stand.

[Hiranthika]

I say we all should stop watching any WB movie until they move the date back to November

[Suzette]

I can't believe WB did this to the Harry Potter fans just to make more money. The Dark Knight made so much money because it was Heath Ledgers last performance on the big screen. WB releases a trailer for November 21, 2008 & then pushes the movie all the way to July 2009. It's horrible! I am 39 years old. I took off from work to see Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince on opening night & I already told my family that for Christmas I wanted all Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince merchandise. Now I have to wait until next year. Alan Horn made a huge, greedy mistake. I really hope he has some sort of brain after reading all of the compaints on mugglenet to change his mind. I was so upset all day I actually cried 3 times. This year has been extremely difficult for me & the only thing I was really excited for was this movie. You know since I have to wait so long to watch it...I'm going to try my hardest not to even go to the theatre to see it. Withing 1 or 2 weeks from the July release it will be all over the internet for free. How do you like that for your pocket ALAN HORN... you idiot!

[Reeds]

The rage of this money driven decision has over flowed from the HP fan world into the Alan Rickman Fan world. The disrespect they are showing the fans who have financed these movies is staggering. I mean how many more houses are cars do you have to have before the profits can take a back seat. HBP is ALWAYS going to break records and produce an obscene amount of money – when EVER it was shown. I for one will boycott Warner Bros until the film is released. I was going to see Dark Knight this weekend – no way now. These big movie companies need to show the punter some real respect. It is WE who fund this films and to so casually ignore us is appalling, let alone doing this to a child’s story/book and what about the Royal Performance charity? They say this is a careful and measured decision but seems their sister companies had no idea with a number of magazine promoting the movie for November.

Warner Bros you LACK of consideration, your cynical, one-track mind on profits has damaged your reputation and is frankly beyond repair.

[W]

Yes, right; they love their fans. Maybe it's more like this; They love money even more!
"I must not tell lies"
BS & doubletalk.

[Greg Matkovich]

Would you show your kid a desired toy at Thanksgiving and tell them "you'll get this come Christmas." then only a week before the big day go to your child and tell them "I'm sorry. I mean I did buy it and it’s all wrapped up and ready for you but I think we'll wait till your birthday late next year." No! No one in there right mind would do this. Yet the WB said for your holiday gift we want to thank you for all the money and support you have given us in the past by...... wait for it........ Making you wait for a movie we even admit is done and ready to go. Well WB I truly hope that this little 'gift' doesn’t bit you all where the sun never shines.

[LemonFaerie]

We are organizing a fan rebellion. WB is not going to soak up the profits we provide them while treating us this way. We are boycotting everything even remotely connected to WB, including the HBP movie itself when it finally comes out. I am so angry I don't want to see or hear anything about it anymore anyway. We need all the fans to join up, strength in numbers of people NOT buying WB products or seeing their movies will make them feel the results of this disgraceful decision.

[cleo grubb]

Outraged!! Warner Brothers greed factor is going to backfire on them. I will not go to the theater to see "Half Blood Price" whenever they release it. I will force myself to wait untill it comes out on DVD. And I will never go to a film made by Warner Brothers ever again!!

[Fug WB n A. Horn]

I've just read your article on "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" pushed back release date, from 21 November, 2008, to 17 July, 2009(Next 'Harry Potter' film to be delayed eight months), and would like to comment on this matter. I, and I believed the billions of Harry Potter fans as well, are of the opinion that WB is doing this NOT in the interest of us fans, but rather for their own benefit. I find it simply atrocious that Alan Horn, the COO of WB can actually say that "We would never do anything to hurt one of the movies or the series. We love our fans.". This is total BS. You have already disappointed and hurt us with your selfish decision, more than the pain "Crucio" can cause to the victim.
It was reported that there are two reasons from that COO himself why WB did this stupid act. One, is that "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.". Reason two, is that "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.". Besides that, "the young, core Potter audience would be out of school and give the film a longer theatrical life."These was from the press statement he released on 14 August, 2008.
FYI, Mr. COO, we fans think that your excuses are very very lame. Referring to your first reason, I would like to ask you, how on earth is November not "an ideal window for a family tent pole release'? It's really near the hoilday seasons, and families can get together and watch it. The very next line shows that you do not have the interest of the fans at heart. It sounded like you were wishing that "Half-Blood Prince" would generate the kind of profit that the "Order of the Phoenix" and "Sorcerer's Stone"(The highest grossing movie in the franchise) generated as well.
As for the second reason, I don't see any other movie studios pushing back their Fall 08 or any other releases back to Summer 09, so that there won't be a dearth of summer movies at that time, do you? Do you think that WB is the only movie studio affected by the WGA strike? Again, this reason points to the obvious fact that WB have only their best interests in mind.
To tell you the truth, I have been anticipating this "Half-Blood Prince" for a year now (since "Order of the Phoenix" was released). When I saw the teaser trailer (which is released unussually late, compared to other HP movie's teasers), I was blown away by it, and thought, "This is a must see! i must see it on the first day it is released itself!". I believe all the other fans have the same thought as well, regardless of whether they have watched the trailer, or not. With this huge number of fans waiting with bated breath to watch the movie, I am sure that WB would be able to generate the same amount of profit as the two abovementioned movies, or maybe even more, even if they release it on the original release date.
Right after this decision was announced to the world, many fans have express their dissapointment, their fury at WB. There are also quite a number of fans who are planning to boycott the movie when it is released next summer. This would definitely make WB hopes of generating a handsome profit bleak, very very bleak. Do you want to risk that? I am preety sure you would say, "No.".
I would also like to qoute what Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, said in the above mentioned press statement."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.'". Are you nuts? We fans do not care having to wait one year plus to watch the first part of "Deathly Hallows", but we certainly would NOT want to wait any longer to watch the "Half-Blood Prince". Do you realise that we have to wait for two years just to watch "Half-Blood Prince" now? Isn't this worse than just waiting for one year for the movie if you just stick to the original release date?
If you bigwigs want to have more concrete proof that we HP fan are really furious right now, and want you guys to stick to the original release date, you can just go and visit any HP related websites. Here are the addresses for three of them:
1) http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1810

2) http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/show/1811

3) http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/08/news-flash-harr.html

There is also a petition too, to demand you all to revert to the original release date:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/harrypotter6

Please listen to us. We fans have supported WB for so long, why would you want to risk losing the support? Afterall, we are your customer, and customer is always right.

[emma]

I'm am actually rather disgusted at this news. It is not in the fans best interests whatsoever - just a scheme to generate as much money as possible. A friend of mine who lives in a different country is coming to stay with me in the autumn and we were going to have a HP bash on opening night. That's out the window now isn't it?

[D]

WB president Alan Horn has been quoted as calling Guy Ritchie's RockNRolla "too English" in explaining why the studio wants to keep it in limited release when it hits theaters this fall. Harry Potter is English. Could it be that this money-making franchise is also "too English" for Mr. Horn?

[Francesca]

WTH is WRONG with WB ?!?! All they care about is there "precious little cash" (mocking voice). Besides, it wouldnt have made a difference when it was released, they would still have made gazilions of dollars with that movie alone! I'd be surprised if they made any amount of money at all now! I sincerely hope all the petitions are going to push the release date back to where it belongs, in November; It is also incredibly likely that everyone will boycott WB, what with all the threats and heated language (to put it mildly) from millions of fans streaming all over the internet =) I hope JK makes a stand against this. WB is go down!!

[jhaines]

“We love our fans.” (Are they hugging us or just reaching for our wallet?)

[PAT M]

BOYCOTT ALL WB FILMS AND T.V. SHOWS

LETS HIT THEM IN THEIR MONEY BAG.

[SDK]

I support the boycott ! WB is making a huge mistake. Move HBP back to November !! I hope everyone will boycott them. Everyone sign the petition ! WB needs to hear us !!

[Lyndsey]

Hello all really pissed off HP fans... i just about FREAKED OUT when I heard the news, and immediately started a group on Facebook here at my school. Here's the goal: obviously people are talking about boycotting the movie. We all know that we cannot survive without seeing the movie at the midnight showing and the rest of the day it comes out. So, here's the plan. Buy a ticket to a different movie that day (not a WB movie) and then walk into the HP theater and see it. This way, you see the movie, but WB doesn't get their precious money that they are soo concerned about (as if they don't make enough already). If you are concerned about being caught, look at it this way... who works at movie theaters? High school and college kids who love movies just as much as us and who are most likely HP fans as well. Once they know about this plan, do you really think they're gunna be like "hey, you can't go in there without a ticket"? nope... they're gunna escort you to your seat.

if everyone joins together and accomplishes this, this would do WAY more damage to their pride than just boycotting... they don't get their money, and they get outsmarted by millions of people. then maybe they'll realize how stupid this mistake really was.

[hp mom]

I was horrified when my daughter ran to me yesterday screaming that Harry Potter had been moved. I thought she was playing around and told her it wasn't funny. We both just finished rereading the book for the fifth time. She finally showed me on the internet and words cannot describe how crazed I became. We scanned the internet in hopes this was just a rumor and realized that Warner Brothers actually did change the release date. I told her we should email JK Rowling or anyone else we could think of who might be able to change there minds. Then she said why don't we just tell Warner Brothers that we want Harry back in Nov. I told her after reading there statement that they could care less about what we think and thats when we both decide that a boycott and/or protest would be better. I am the mother if three and along with them and my husband we were extremely excited to see the movie. Now we think we may never see another warner brothers movie again. She has been texting all her friends and getting the boycott/petition rolling. Warner Brothers I think you will see what true love is because we love our Harry Potter more than you love your fans. Oh yeah you don't have any fans anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bonnie]

this stinks big time I think that i will not be seeing anything by WB until they change their minds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oslapedo]

I wonder what JKR thinks of this.

[obeb]

WARNER BROS = GREEDY GARDEN HOES.

[Scots]

It never ceases to amaze me how huge conglomerates forget just who makes them their money...US! I hope that the pressure is put on WB in a huge way and that they back down. *shakes head in disbelief*

[JJD]

I have lost count of how many times I have cried this past weekend. I moped around and didn't eat. I am just so sad!! I am now so glad that my husband and I did not go see Dark Night. I am now only planning on seeing HBP once, I saw OotP three times and my husband saw it twice. We are also not going to see any WB movies and stay away from amything associated with them. Now the biggie, Universal in Florida is opening an HP area in fall of 2009 and we were already plannig to go and now no way are we going!!! We will just go to Disney, I'll give them all my money!!!