When the WGA strike ended this past winter, Paramount announced they were delaying the release of the big screen reboot of Star Trek in order to take advantage of much needed re-writes. And while the film could’ve still made its Christmas Day release, the studio felt some extra time was needed to make sure Star Trek would cross over its already cult status and pushed the film to May 2009.
Now Warner Bros. is getting into the act by pushing the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from its November debut to July 2009. Now you could play devils advocate with this, saying the delay could be cause the film is in trouble and rescheduling is needed to save it. Or, as Warner seems to be saying, the WGA strike caused them to have no real tent-pole film for 2009 and because The Dark Knight has done so well for the studio (it’s bound to be Warners best year in years) they don’t need the extra money.
They also are saying the Harry Potter films do better in the summer, though only two of the five have been released during that time, 2004's Prisoner of Azkaban (the lowest grosser of the five) and 2007's Order of the Phoenix (which was the second highest grossing Potter film behind the first). Together they’ve raked up $1.7 billion, while the three released in winter, 2001's Sorcerer’s Stone, 2002's Chamber of Secrets and 2005's Goblet of Fire have grossed $2.7 billion.
While I can’t believe a studio can make too much money, I kinda buy into the idea the WGA strike effected their 2009 schedule more than they were willing to admit at first. So by moving Potter 6 to summer next year seems practical. Still, there is a niggling idea in the back of my mind that Warners is using the strike as a stall tactic to help save a troubled film -even though there’s been no suggestion Half-Blood was in trouble to begin with.
Still, if Warners believes the films do better in summer, then what will prevent them from releasing the final film, or at least part one of the final film, The Deathly Hallows, in summer 2011 instead of the already announced November 2010, thus pushing part two to summer 2012?
Meanwhile, Summit Entertainment took advantage of Harry's move to summer and pushed up the highly anticipated teen vampire-romance Twilight, based on the hit best seller by Stephanie Meyer, to November 21 from its original December 12th day.
Now Warner Bros. is getting into the act by pushing the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from its November debut to July 2009. Now you could play devils advocate with this, saying the delay could be cause the film is in trouble and rescheduling is needed to save it. Or, as Warner seems to be saying, the WGA strike caused them to have no real tent-pole film for 2009 and because The Dark Knight has done so well for the studio (it’s bound to be Warners best year in years) they don’t need the extra money.
They also are saying the Harry Potter films do better in the summer, though only two of the five have been released during that time, 2004's Prisoner of Azkaban (the lowest grosser of the five) and 2007's Order of the Phoenix (which was the second highest grossing Potter film behind the first). Together they’ve raked up $1.7 billion, while the three released in winter, 2001's Sorcerer’s Stone, 2002's Chamber of Secrets and 2005's Goblet of Fire have grossed $2.7 billion.
While I can’t believe a studio can make too much money, I kinda buy into the idea the WGA strike effected their 2009 schedule more than they were willing to admit at first. So by moving Potter 6 to summer next year seems practical. Still, there is a niggling idea in the back of my mind that Warners is using the strike as a stall tactic to help save a troubled film -even though there’s been no suggestion Half-Blood was in trouble to begin with.
Still, if Warners believes the films do better in summer, then what will prevent them from releasing the final film, or at least part one of the final film, The Deathly Hallows, in summer 2011 instead of the already announced November 2010, thus pushing part two to summer 2012?
Meanwhile, Summit Entertainment took advantage of Harry's move to summer and pushed up the highly anticipated teen vampire-romance Twilight, based on the hit best seller by Stephanie Meyer, to November 21 from its original December 12th day.
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