Statement from Warner
Warner Bros. Pictures announced Thursday that it has moved back the release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from November 21 to Summer 2009.
Warner president and COO Alan Horn announced that the sixth installment of the mega-popular series will be released in theatres July 17, 2009.
Could it be that competition from other holiday movies like Twilight caused Warner to reevaluate Harry Potter’s marketing strategy? Was it the writers strike?
“Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know 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,” Horn said. “Additionally, 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.”
“The release date change does not alter the production schedule for this or future Harry Potter films. Post-production on ‘Half-Blood Prince’ was completed on time, and the studio’s release plans for the two-part ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ will not be affected by this change,” said Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Pictures Group. “We know Harry Potter fans are eagerly anticipating seeing the final chapters unfold onscreen. 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.'”
Translation: they’re worried they won’t make enough money in November, and are pushing it back to create a new “Harry Potter mania” next summer so that these last three features will make more and more money.
At least now we know why they took so long to release a trailer.