Warner Bros. -- a division of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) -- made the surprising announcement that it's delaying the release of the sixth installment in the Harry Potter saga: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price.
The release is being pushed back from November 11 of 2008 to July 17 of 2009. Warner Bros. President Alan Horn blamed the writers' strike, saying that "We agreed the best strategy was to move 'Half-Blood Prince' to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tentpole release for mid-summer."
I'm not convinced -- isn't it a little close to the previously scheduled opening for the writers' strike that ended on February 12 to be the reason? Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield wrote that "We believe TWX is shifting the film to help it achieve earnings expectations in 2008 (moving expensive P & A out of Q4 2008, at the same time that several successful films are set to hit DVD for Warner)."
If that's the case, investors should be concerned. Any time that a company starts messing with its operations in order to improve short-term earnings reports, you have a situation where long-term objectives could be neglected in favor of satisfying Wall Street expectations. In the long run, such a strategy will neither please Wall Street nor set the stage for long-term growth.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-25-2008 @ 9:47AM
David said...
I think the real reason they pushed the harry potter movie back was the fact of how good the Dark Knight movie is still doing, I mean look the Dark Knight is still no. 1 and it debuted when? it is smarter for them to wait.
8-16-2008 @ 2:54AM
critical of critics said...
Oh please, what idiot wrote this article? Everyone knows the family-friendly Potter franchise would make more money when the kiddies are out of school. Investors should be pleased, not worried.
8-16-2008 @ 1:22PM
chitu said...
This cant be possible!!!!!!!!!!!! Please dont do this to us. Please cant it be shifted back??? I was dying for the movie. I cant wait till july. Please please please.
8-16-2008 @ 8:02PM
Betsy said...
Go to the warnerbros.com website and post a comment under FEEDBACK in the bottom right. You can also go to www.petitionspot.com and sign the petition.
8-17-2008 @ 2:43PM
Jeni&Terry said...
so yeahh,
i think we as well as everyone else KNOWS It's because the harry potter people didn't want to compete with the Twilight movie coming out.
we all know that that movie will be better anyways :].