There was some big news in Hollywood today, when Alan Horn, President of Warner Bros., announced that the release of the highly anticipated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince would be pushed back from November 21 st to July 17 of 2009.

"Our reasons for shifting Half-Blood Prince to summer are twofold: We know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers' strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films-changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move Half-Blood Prince to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer."

Here, let me translate that for you.

"I'm a greedy jerk who doesn't give a second's thought to the fans."

Here's an excerpt from Producer David Heyman's statement. "When Jeff Robinov explained the rationale behind moving the release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to July 2009, it was immediately apparent that this offered us the potential to reach the widest possible audience."

Translation:

"Screw the fans, we want money."

If you hadn't already guessed, I'm kind of peeved about this. The Harry Potter books are probably my favorite books of all time, and if not, I've read them more than any other (I've read each book a minimum of twenty times, except for the seventh book). Not only do the books carry huge nostalgia for me, but they provide a sort of escapism that's perfect after sitting in school for hours on end. I love those books.

Back around 2000, a Harry Potter movie was announced, and I just about exploded with anticipation. My family and I bought our tickets in advance and still had to wait in line for hours on opening night (November 16 th, 2001...I did that from memory) to see the movie. It was everything I hoped it would be, and I saw it five times in theaters. Looking back on it today, it's really not that great, but the nostalgia factor is off the charts.

The rest of the films have been pretty good, except for the Goblet of Fire movie, which was awful. I hate it. I wish that movie had never been made. Okay, it's not that bad, but the problem up to that point was that the only director who had understood Harry Potter was Alfonso Cuaron with his Prisoner of Azkaban film, and even that wasn't perfect. Goblet of Fire was a huge step back for the series. Then in 2007, David Yates made the film of Order of The Phoenix, and was the first director to make a great Harry Potter film.

It was announced soon after that he would direct the Half-Blood Prince movie; I honestly can't wait for it. The teaser trailer that debuted a few weeks ago was beyond perfect; this could easily be the best movie in the series. Keep in mind, since the books are done, the movies are the only Harry Potter fans will be getting any more. As of today, there were only supposed to be 98 days left until the release of the movie.

And then they delay it.

Not by a week. Not by a month.

But by EIGHT WHOLE MONTHS.

This is a huge slap in the face to all the fans that have been waiting for the film. There was no reason to delay. The movie is completed; it's been edited, the effects are complete, everything is ready for release. Instead, it's being delayed by eight friggin' months. It's like traveling miles on foot to reach a giant Diamond, and then having that diamond removed and put somewhere much further away. And I'm not the only one who's peeved; just look on the IMDb message boards. There's some pretty harsh language going around. Fans of the books are mad, fans of the films are mad; that's everyone who wanted to see the movie, right there.

Good job Warner Bros. You justalienated your entire audience.

Taking the fans out of the equation, the switch still doesn't make sense. The movie is done. But WB claims Summer will give them more money. That statement doesn't make a lick of sense either. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in November, and it made 976 million dollars worldwide. Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire were both released in November and made $878 million and $896 million, respectively. Prisoner of Azkaban is the lowest grossing installment, with $795 million worldwide, and it was released in summer. Granted, Order of the Phoenix is the second-highest grossing film of the franchise with $938 million worldwide, and was released in summer, but that doesn't change the fact that Harry Potter films, statistically, have done better at Christmas.

Maybe WB thought there were too many other movies coming out. In reality, the new James Bond film comes out 2 weeks before Harry Potter was scheduled to open, and after the original release date, there are no other big releases. I suppose there's the Twilight movie, but does anyone honestly believe that a vampire chick-flick would out-gross Harry Potter? They've also said that summer 2009 is fairly empty, and they wanted that space over the November slot. But nothing big is coming out after November either, as I've just explained. And there are lots of big Summer 2009 releases. Off the top of my head, there's Angels and Demons, Wolverine, Star Trek, and Transformers 2. Me, I'd stick with November.

So now that I've easily debunked every reason WB could possibly have to delay the release, the only logical answer is that they want toanger their loyal fan base. Well, all I can say is good job. You've done it.

Studios have delayed two big movies this year; Harry Potter, and a few months earlier, Paramount delayed J.J. Abrams' Star Trek to summer. Why is this necessary? With those two films in the 2008 slate, this would easily be the most awesome year for movies ever. What's next? Will they delay Quantum of Solace.

Oh god...I hope I didn't just jinx it.