Harry Potter: Too naked for holiday season?

No wonder movie studios are petrified of the media! Every time a studio moves a big tentpole's release date, the conpiracy theorists surface, speculating all sorts of dark, quasi-satanistic motives. The chatterers are chattering again with the news that Warners has pulled "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from its Nov. 21 date, pushing it to July 17. The blogosphere has treated the move with all sorts of raised eyebrows.

But nobody has floated a more preposterous theory than Foxnews showbiz blogger Roger Friedman, who proposed today the real reason he believes the movie got the bump: Warners is petrified that family movie fans will freak out when they discover that "Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe is appearing on stage this fall in New York in "Equus," a play that -- horrors! -- requires a bit of occasional nudity. Putting on his Inspector Clouseau investigator's cap, Friedman assumes the worst:

"Radcliffe appears naked in the play, on stage, and has sex in it as well. That's not the image Warner Bros. wants associated with bespectacled Harry, who remains chaste and virginal. Indeed, posters for 'Equus' are up all over New York, of Radcliffe's naked torso superimposed on a horse's head. This is not the sort of of thing that's taught at Hogwarts. For the movie to open on Nov. 21, Radcliffe would have to do publicity entailing answering questions about blinding horses and having sex with them vs. flying around and making potions."

Putting aside the obvious -- any 10-year-old could've told Roger that by the time of "Half Blood Prince," the Harry Potter protagonists are quite well aware of the opposite sex -- the theory is hilariously New York-ocentric, as if Middle America were really riveted by what was happening on one stage in midtown Manhattan. There's a more obvious explanation for the move: If you glance at Warner's schedule for 2009, it has a thin summer, with only one real potential blockbuster ("Terminator Salvation") on the slate. Putting "Half-Blood Prince" in the summer, where it could perhaps make even more money, beefs up a potential weak summer slate. It also takes some of the pressure off this fall's release schedule, which is so jampacked with product that, as Warners distribution chief Dan Fellman told me the other day, has more movies than most studios release in an entire year.

Having made more moola with "The Dark Knight" this summer than it ever had imagined possible, Warners can afford to bump its next meal ticket into another fiscal year, where it can keep all those corporate coffers nicely balanced with blockbuster product. I like a good conspiracy theory as much the next person, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

  Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Daniel Radcliffe in "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince."

Comments

[Sandy]

Roger Friedman is a lousy reporter. He never researches his facts, thereby getting a lot of stuff wrong, and tends to just fabricate the rest of his information out of thin air.

[Adam Buchanan]

Daniel Radcliffe was in this play in the West End starting in February 2007 when he was 17 years old. If anything would surface about this play in the media, I would think it would have last July, when Order of the Phoenix came out. I didn't hear much about it then. I doubt the conspiracy theorists' ideas about the reason for the release date change, but think the author of this article is a little cavalier about it.

I don't know about you, but I have virtually no respect for the kid. Thinking that in order to be a serious actor, you need to appear naked on stage in a play about a boy who has sex with a horse...well, that seems a little misguided to me.

[Jeremy]

"I don't know about you, but I have virtually no respect for the kid. Thinking that in order to be a serious actor, you need to appear naked on stage in a play about a boy who has sex with a horse...well, that seems a little misguided to me."

That's a pretty funny comment considering we're talking about 'Equus.' It won the Tony for Best Play in 1975, and has been pretty consistently performed since then. It's been a commercial and critical success for over 30 years - it ain't a Troma release.

[Rick]

First, I don't think Radcliffe thinks that to be a serious actor you have to appear nude. I think he believes, and rightly so, that to be a serious actor you have to do serious work. While you may vilify the subject matter, "Equus" is a mature, Tony Award-winning play. The "Harry Potter" films, while much beloved, really aren't. One could argue that Radcliffe could have picked a less sensationalist play, but we're not privy to his selection process, and second guessing is just that.

Roger Friedman, on the other hand, clearly has some hangups. Why he didn't smell the money instead of pursuing some nutty moralistic conspiracy is beyond me. Besides, as one other wrote, didn't Radcliffe already do the play once?

And to the point of what plays in Manhattan won't play in middle America - how many people does this really impact? Millions more will see a "Harry Potter" movie than will ever see the play.

[Jacqueline]

I think this is ridiculous to delay the release of the movie due to the other film. We are huge HP fans and it doesn't make a difference to me. I have no interest in the other film, Fans shouldn't have to wait for the release of the Half Blood Prince. This is so disheartening for the fans that count down the minutes to the movie!!!

[Mira]

To the commenter who has 'no respect' for Dan appearing naked. No your facts, there is no sex with animals in the play. The play is a well respected piece and Dan has been praised for his performance. You just seem closed minded and prudish. Nudity is just one part of the play, would you prefer explicit violence?

[FugWB]

Adam Buchanan, you are really stupid if you think so.

[um]

He also gauges out the horses eyes in the play too.. so it has the explicit violence in it too. Its a really good play and all of the "implied sex" and violence are important to the plot.

[Amanda]

He did always seem a bit unnaturally fond of buck beak...

[tiffanyacz]

Friend give me the DVD as chrismtas gift, althought I don't like Radcliffe appears naked in the play, I rip dvd to my computer with dvd ripper software http://www.convert-video-dvd.com/dvd-ripper.html#115 to trim some chapters.