Alan Horn issues statement regarding HBP delay
Alan Horn, President of Warner Brothers, has issued a statement in response to the large amount of disappointment from their decision to delay Half-Blood Prince until July 17th, 2009:Many of you have written to me to express your disappointment in our moving “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” to Summer 2009. Please be assured that we share your love for Harry Potter and would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films. Over the past 10 years, we have nurtured and protected each film, and the integrity of the books upon which they are based, to the best of our ability. The decision to move “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was not taken lightly, and was never intended to upset our Harry Potter fans. We know you have built this series into what it is, and we thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm and support. If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between “Half-Blood Prince” and the much-anticipated first part of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which opens in November 2010. So although we have to wait a little longer for “Half-Blood Prince,” the wait from that film until “Deathly Hallows” will be less than 18 months. I am sorry to have disappointed you now, but if you hold on a little longer, I believe it will be worth the wait.
Posted by Andrew on Aug 19th |
596 Comments


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*sigh* i wanna hear mugglecasts response to this 1st? or top 10
Funny how he doesn't ONCE mention the fact that the movie was moved because they want more MONEY! I am still boycotting all of WB and their films/DVDs/affiliates, and I am still boycotting the HBP film, and I am still pissed.........YOU ARE SLIMY ALAN HORN!!!!!
lies.................. they dont care about us. they care about our money. and they dont even do the movies justice!
Bullsh*t
yeah right. the move was selfish and only meant to benefit WB. what a joke. he really might as well just have said nothing.
go to heck....your wrong. BOYCOTT THE OPENING WEEKEND!
Its al a bunch of bull.He just wants more money.
personally i dont think that they did it just to upset us! but it certainly did. im definitely pissed about the whole thing. and yeah im sure some guy was like "omg dark knight is so popular, lets move the movie to that date!" yeah wtF? just because its the same date or whatever has no effect on who will see the movie that day. and yeah, they definitely moved it just because they wanted money. >;[
Funny how he fails to mention that now that they've moved it the gap between 5 and 6 is now 2 years. We changed one 2 year gap for another. All for money.
The movies are a SAD, shallow, inconsistent, irresolute, representation of the books, and the WB is STILL trying to act as though we are their fans and they care about us, when in reality we are HP fans, not WB fans, and they DON'T care about us, just our money. "Less of a wait between HBP and DH" (which they broke into two parts to get yet MORE money out of us but try and pass it as them suddenly "caring" about the accuracy of the books) oh! I feel SOOO much better now Alan Horn! Thank you!....................B OYCOTT the HBP opening weekend and show the WB what pissing off the HP fans will do!...........Watch my vlog on youtube! TheRaineDrop
:/ duhhhh we're dissapointed!! u idiottt grr im am soooo mad
It may no longer be a gap of 2 years between movie 6 and 7, but they created a 2 year gap between 5 and 6.
Whatever! Who are you trying to fool with the "we care about fans" garbage?
Uhh...He says that they would not do anything to hurt the movie, but moving it does hurt it in a sense because some people, me included, are boycotting everything WB and the opening weekend. I say keep sending howlers, and the only way that they could make it up to us is to move it to the old twilight release date of dec. 12th or earlier. STILL PISSED OFF!!!!!
WB wants money. I say everyone boycott opening weekend and only see it once. If we do that then Alan Horn will lose his job, which he rightly deserves. He can still overturn this, but there isnt much time.
why cant JKR direct the movies not greedy people????!!!! jk but SERIOUSLY?????
"If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between
I agree with you guys about the movies...they really don't do the books justice. I know they can't get EVERYTHING the same, but I also DO NOT believe that they make every effort to keep the "integrity of the books." Example: GoF dragon chase scene was their for entertainment, not because they thought it did justice to the books. ALSO, Adorkable, thank you for pointing that out, that (him purposefully leaving that fact out) is another reason why thier reasonings and responses to the move disgust me.
I really am offended at how stupid he thinks we are. Were getting DH in two parts for money only, were getting HBP on delay so they can save money on taxes. I can tell you this, if MN, HPANA or Leaky took the right stance and encouraged us to see the movie once, and make that happen. But WB would come down on them harder then JKR came down in steve vander ark with his book, too much to lose for them for t hem to get involved with the fans and the money wb stands to make.
I hate to break it to you but WB's reasons for doing this are legitimate. They're going to lose revenue from the delayed films they originally planned for next summer. Considering the summer months usually attract the most theater goers, those lost films represent a lot of lost revenue, more revenue than what would be lost if they take Harry Potter off the Winter lineup. They are doing this to even out their revenue stream. They will still lose money from the delayed summer releases, but not as much if they hadn't delayed HBP. Does it end up being all about money? Yes, it does. Greed? No, not so much.
thats the crappiest silver lining i ever did hear DH isnt being moved up, its release date is the same...ummm thanks??? i guess? wtf
Thanks ChaiBabachai. I love how they practically HAD To split the last book into two movies because now they have to scramble to explain everything they left out in all the other ones. Sometimes I wonder if JKR did it on purpose. Stupid WB.
yeah and instead it's a 2 year delay from OOTP to HBP!! No matter what it's a two year delay!! I really would not care at all if it was a two year delay from HBP til DH part one because DH is the last film (not including movie 2) so I would love the two year anticipation. Plus, we're still going to have to wait long for the release of the first DH film no matter what. WHY CAN'T THEY RELEASE HBP IN DECEMBER?!? I really don't get why not.
He seems sincere, but it's just so disappointing. They can't pretend this isn't about the money so I don't know why they bother trying. They have upset fans and nothing is going to change that. I understand that people are upset about the cuts/additions in the movies, but that is part of storytelling through a movie; it really can't be helped. I just do not understand the push, it's all about the money and that is really disappointing.
I dont know why.. but while i was reading this i was thinking that violins should be played in the background like a sappy drama (like a boyfriend is breaking up with his girlfriend) "its not you.. its me" lol this guy is just like a politician.. they love to spin stories to make themselves look good.
HMMMMM, it's amazing how I DON'T CARE! I don't believe them either. They just want money. STILL PISSED WB!!!!!! Nice try though....
HAHAHA! WB IS CRACKING. KEEP SENDING MAILS, SIGNING STUFF AND BOYCOTTING THEIR MOVIES. IF THEY THINK THAT THIS IS GOING TO MAKE US FEEL BETTER, THEY'RE WRONG. THEY'RE JUST TRYING TO GET ON OUR GOOD SIDE SO THAT WE'LL START PAYING FOR THEIR STUFF AGAIN. KEEP BREAKIN' EM. XD THIS WAS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS. MWHAHAHA
If you guys think they didn't know how many fans would be upset by this, you're kidding yourselves. They knew, and they made this decision anyway. The writer's strike hurt them substantially, and they made the best decision to help themselves out of that rut. Does it suck? Yes, it does, but I believe them. They didn't come to this decision lightly, and if they had another option to get them out of the hole, they probably would have taken that one.
schenkl ummmm, what the blue hell are you talking about? This is more then about the money for the fans, why are WE being punished because the studio heads were greedy bums when it came to giving the writers a fair deal and it cost them summer releases, I think not, they HAD no summer release either way. This isnt about making more money as a company, its about taking away our movie in November just so they can make there money in 2009. The fact of the matter is, HBP wont make any more money in the summer then it will in November, Gobet is sitting at 290 mil as a november release while ootp is sitting at 292. And that isnt more ticket sales its the price of the ticks went up, I saw Goblet once while I saw Ootp 4 times, Now Im seeing HBP 1 time, and that is their fault. Money or no money, they could of released this over April vacation, this is a movie that it doesnt matter when its released its going to hit its range of 280-310 mil mark, what this is, is a cop out by them and there is no logical reason to make us wait for the movie, not even if you wanted to call them greedy.
OMG ppl please stop being so pissy ITS A MOVIE! Its going to be CRAP anyways If it was the book i could understand!
He says nothing knew in the statement, really. What a heel. SO what if there's less of a wait between HBP and DH part 1? If the film is done and ready and doesn't need any tweaking (and was already getting scheduled in advance of the Royal screenings) why the delay? Writer's strike... my tuckus!
Didn't you notice? He changed his wording. He's no longer saying that they wouldn't do anything to hurt the fans... he says they wouldn't do anything to hurt the movie. So much for at least attempting to make us think you give a darn.
Wow. How fake is he. All he said was 'We don't wanna hurt the movie. We love the movie.' and then said the reason we did this was so the wait between HBP and DH1 is short now. Well, I would've been ok with the wait, because that's the official date that they've promised us. But now, HBP has been pushed from the date we were promised. That's what ticks me off! They broke a promise they made when we were so close and now he have to wait basically a year!
uh yea we knew that already. what was the point of this? as disappointed I am, i'm getting over it.
festy1986- lmao I laughed at that MN comment (6th comment down). It's SO true! I can't even listen to the podcasts anymore because they seem so into themselves and rude... now I bet I'm gonna have 764036730 people on my *** with hate comments. Just my opinion. But yeah, anyway, Volke93, it's not just a movie... it's the principle behind what they're doing. Why can't you people understand that! I really don't understand how some of you can't be pissed off lol. They're "business decision" is piggish, they're lying to us with constant bullshit so they can hide the fact that they're trying to take every cent from you so they can add to the billions they don't need. AND they're using HP. Ugh you people are frustrating me. Fine. I'm not boycotting HBP but I'm not going to see it multiple times and I'm NOT going to see WB's other films. I can wait for video. Or... buy a ticket in sneak in. DUH.
What he meant was "If we wait long enough, it'll be worth it-- TO THEM" because THEY will get more CASH. Greedy idiots! KEEP SENDING HATE MAIL AND HOWLERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! DON'T GIVE UP!!!!
What he meant was "If we wait long enough, it'll be worth it-- TO THEM" because THEY will get more CASH. Greedy idiots! KEEP SENDING HATE MAIL AND HOWLERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! DON'T GIVE UP!!!!
festy1986, yeah, what you said makes more sense. They won't make more or less money either way, so they made the decision to delay the film just to psst Potter fans off. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. If they thought, they'd simply make the same amount of money, they'd have kept it where it was. Were the studios greedy bums when it came to giving the writer's their just due? Yes, they were, and now they are paying for it. They anticipate lost revenue during summer 2009, due to that strike, so they made what they think is the best decision to mitigate it. I don't like this decision any more than you do. I would much rather see this movie in November. I think the content of the movie is best suited for a November release. And, I can guarantee something else. Other major production companies have made the exact same decisions when it came to their releases for the exact same reasons WB has lined out. Those films, however, just don't have nearly the same fan following and anticipation that HP has, so those films aren't making the headlines.
Since I am sure I must have agreed to use clean language here, I can not say what I really think. It does involve many 4 letter words of color. But most importantly I want to CONGRATULATE all of you, us, maybe we really did get the giant's attention. Kind of like a nat buzzing his ears, but that is no small feet! WTG and I am still refusing to see any WB product until hpb is realeased. I am proud to call you all friends!
I don't know why he mentioned the "short" wait between HBP and DH because it doesn't really matter. I'm kind of over being pissed because there's obviously nothing we can do about it. I'm sure it'll be a great movie, and in the meantime we have The Beedle and the Bard to look forward to in terms of HP releases. It'll be okay in the end, guys. There's really no use being mad over it.
i bet there going to push deathly hallows back to 215
SHUT THE F*** UP!
wow, that makes me feel completely better! i forgive you for pushing back HBP for a YEAR. no hard feelings!! /sarcasm WARNER BROS, you disgust me.
Basically, they made the mistake of not changing the date before announcing on their websites the release dates around the world and giving us the trailer with November 2008 at the end. This may be a wise business decision but we the fans make or break the movie industry. Without us they don't make the money. That is the bottomline. Next summer believe it or not they won't make the money off of me that they would have in November 2008.
lol, and one more thing-- Alan Horn, you are SLIMY! hahaha! yeah, SLIMY!!! very freaking SLIMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! i SO agree RabidSphinx. slimy. heck YEAH!
The point is schenkl is that there not making any more net value, it doesnt matter when they get the money. You would think that they want it earlier right? but because TDK is sitting at almost 500 mil, it makes NO sense to them to pay all that taxes for net worth this year as TDK basically it two blockbusters in one for them. So they save tons by pushing it to 09. Ginmo, its true, there in WB pocket and they know it, there isnt any problem with that, its nice to get free stuff, make a 1,000 a month to do a audio podcast and not have to have a real job for some of these kids, so you can understand why our sentiments might be shared by some of them, there not going to ruin there relationship with WB because of something like this, they even deleated my comment cause maybe some of the fans around here are too much of a groupie to understand whats really going on I dont think they want it in writing.
Here we go...excuses and more excuses. I still think the decision is full of crap. So they've delayed it to make the wait between HBP and DH shorter...sure. ;-) Whatever you say WB...
festy1986- THANK YOUUUUU!!!!!!!!! gosh! that's exactly what I've been trying to say. And BAHAHAHAH you're right marcia56, it seems like we were getting to them. He mentioned all the angry letters. KEEP IT UP PEOPLE! We gotta keep annoying them. The whole point of this statement was to try and butter us up to get us to back down. If you back down, you're giving them what they want.
I'm amazed at how many of you people commenting feel a sense of entitlement to the movie as if it were actually yours. News flash: it's not. The movie does not belong to you. You do not have any right to see this movie at a certain time. WB never signed a contract with you saying that the movie had to be released this November. Yes, it sucks that we have to wait an extra 8 months for the movie, but suck it up. The accusations that WB made this decision out of greed are absolutely pointless. WB is a corporation, whose goal is to make as much profit as possible. It's capitalism, not greed. They didn't make this decision solely to make you whiners cry. As for you fools calling for a WB boycott...do what you want. I'm not boycotting anything, and I'll be seeing HBP next July regardless. And you probably will as well.
schenkl: So wouldn't that be greed? They don't have any awesome movies coming out in the Summer so they push HBP there so they receive money then, too. Why couldn't they have just kept it in November? They know that Harry Potter is the best selling movie franchise ever, meaning most fans and most devoted, meaning angry as hell fans.
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