Fans of Harry Potter and pretty much every other franchise will spit out a million statistics and numbers but always leave ones out like this: $130 million. That's the budget of the last Harry Potter movie. Half-Blood Prince will probably come in at $150 million. This is how much it costs to make movies that are live up to the standards of the die hard fans. As much as you want to you, you cannot dismiss the business side. The business side is what raises the money to create the movies you want to see.

Now, do you think Warner Brothers can really keep itself afloat by catering only to the die hard fans out there? Of course not. They wouldn't be able to make the millions and billions of dollars necessary to keep these franchises going. So why aren't fans understanding? If it's better for WB's finances to hold the movie off 6 months, aren't the fans the ones being disrespectful by getting up in arms? Shouldn't they WANT WB to make as much money as possible so that the next products are even higher quality?

I think its selfish of fans to expect artists and studios to give their time, money and energy to a product and expect nothing more in return than a few happy posts on the internet.

I don't want to dismiss the business side and I don't even think the business side comes into play in this case as Harry Potter films have proven to make pretty much the same amount of money no matter when they are released. So sure, fans should want WB to make as much money as they can, but considering they are going to make the same amount of money your whole point goes out the window.

Also, how many films have "die hard fans"? Not many, it isn't as if there are fansites for Body of Lies sprouting up all over the place.

Are you telling me your argument boils down to this: they're going to make the same amount of money either time they release it so they're holding it off for no good reason? Obviously not. There are two reasons they could be holding this back.

1) Business. There are various aspects to the business side, not just the bottom line for Harry Potter. This is why I referred to the money making entity as Warner Brothers (WB). A good fiscal reason to hold off Potter, as has been documented elsewhere and much better than I can do it here, is to keep the books balanced at WB. More money made in 2008 and less in 2009 will be seen as investors as a problem (even if the sum total is the same but that's an argument for another day). Unhappy investors means less money to WB which means less money to Harry Potter and/or other franchises. This is just one of many business related reasons. And we all agree that we'd rather WB not lose money or else the quality of the franchise can be lost.

2) Artistic. The script isn't up to snuff, they need to do reshoots, or anything along these lines. Now, no one would want to rush a mediocre Harry Potter movie if they can get a better on in 6 months, right?

Ultimately what I'm getting at is that WB would not push off this movie unless they thought they had more to gain either in business or in art. Why should you admonish them for this? Other than, of course, you just want your movie now?

That is exactly what I am saying. If you read the article you will see that I believe The Dark Knight made way more money than WB ever expected and with the unknown capabilities of Watchmen and Terminator 4 next year, moving HP6 into 2009 instantly improves the bottom line.

Except for the first Harry Potter film which made $317M, the other four have made $249M and $291M in the summer season and $261M and $290M in winter seasons. Look like rather similar numbers to me.

I wasn't even asking for the movie now, I was just saying it is a rather BS move on the part of WB especially when they then release a rather limp "apology" if you can even call it that. That was my point. Of course, I would like to see all movies now. Gimme Watchmen and I am a happy camper. I am, after all, human.

By the way, the movie is finished so your #2 doesn't really play a factor.

I don't even think WB had to apologize, so you should be happy with what you got. If it's better for them to push it back, then they should do it without apologies. You'll still get your movie. Basically, what I'm saying is, quite whining and acting like WB owes you anything, because they don't so be happy with whaty ou get.

Wow, you really aren't paying attention to anything I am saying so there is no need to continue. Thanks for visiting.