David Heyman has spilled the milk regarding the Half-Blood Prince release date change. We get the following scoop thanks to our friends at comingsoon:
“I think that there was some people… kids were definitely upset, and I’m really sympathetic to that,” Heyman told us when asked about the decision to delay the sixth installment. “I would love the film to come out in November; we would have been ready, but the fact is partly because of the writers strike and for whatever reason, Warners didn’t have any movies next summer. They had Batman this year which was bigger than they ever thought it would be, so they came to me, and they said, ‘David, we want to move it.’ Warners has been really good to us. They’ve given us lots of money and lots of independence. It defies belief how much independence we have on these films. They give us the money, they read a draft of the script. I choose the director, we make the film, they come and visit. We show them a cut of the film, they say they like it, they give us some notes, we make the changes that we want to make. We test screen it once and show it to them, and then the movie is released. They’ve been so supportive that one has to support… they needed it. It’s a film business.”
Film is a business, but if you have printed posters and promised fans a release date – class dictates that you keep your word. To move it ahead a Summer just to boost next years numbers is ridiculous. I have a hard time thinking that the delayed release will make them more money. I could be way off here, but I think they did this just so next years summer quarter looks as appealing as this years to shareholders.
When it comes to being fair to your shareholders or your paying customers, you should always choose your customers. They are the ones that make the machine run with their money, so the business should be kind enough to return the favor with decency and respect.
We have long supposed that WB made the move for the reasons mentioned above. The word on the street was swirling about and many were upset. I think this was a terrible idea, and has killed buzz and momentum for the film. I am not sure if it will hurt it at the box office, but it will be interesting to find out.
