Entertainment Weekly Left Out Of “Harry Potter” Decision
Warner Bros. made the decision to postpone “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” until July 17th of next year. Obviously this has angered many fans - but they aren’t the only ones who are mad. Warner Bros. did not include anyone else in their swift decision and Entertainment Weekly released their new issue talking all about the new movie and stating that it would be released this fall. We were surprised that they were not informed due to the fact that they are the studio’s parent company.
The magazine leads off the issue with a six-page spread pegged to “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which Warner Bros. on Thursday moved from its Nov. 21 release date to July 17, 2009. The studio had been considering the date change for three or four weeks, “but it really didn’t kind of get on the front burner until sometime within the last seven days,” Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution, said Sunday.
Entertainment Weekly’s “deadline must have been earlier than the decision, than when we started to get serious about making the decision,” Fellman said. An Entertainment Weekly spokeswoman did not immediately return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment. The magazine’s online edition added a preface about the date change to the “Harry Potter” story. It also had a laugh or two about the lack of communication between two Time Warner outfits.
“In an irony sure to set blogger hearts beating giddily, the film graces the cover of EW’s new fall preview issue,” reads an entry on the magazine’s Hollywood Insider blog. “EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important … information.”
The blog goes on to joke that the date change will leave Entertainment Weekly “readers in possession of a ‘Dewey Beats Truman’ collectible.” It also notes that British film magazine Empire features Harry Potter on its current cover, though that issue touches on big 2009 releases, as well.