What About Harry?

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Wed, 08/27/2008 - 20:00 -- Nick Dager

The decision by Warner Bros. not to release Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this November but rather release it next July created something of a mini-storm in the mainstream consumer media. But does it mean anything significant to exhibitors? First a full disclosure: I am an avid Harry Potter fan and am personally upset that my Thanksgiving holiday will not include the latest movie installment. Truthfully though there will be football games and leftovers. I’ll survive. Along those same lines although some people were upset that the final book was being turned into two movies and accused Warner Bros. of being greedy I love the idea. Make it three movies. Make it four. It was a very long book. The more Harry Potter the better. A visit to the Internet Movie Database confirms that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is still in post-production although that would likely be the case even if Warner Bros. had stayed with the original release date. And there has been no suggestion that I know of regarding any problems in post. The company said it had decided to make the change in part to bolster its release schedule for the lucrative summer movie going season because the recent screenwriters strike had delayed several projects. And the studio said the change of date would not alter production plans for the final two-part Potter movie adventure Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The release date for part one is tentatively set for November 2010. Looked at in traditional terms then I would have to say this situation doesn’t mean very much at least in the grand scheme of things. And that seems to be the reaction of many exhibitors. They see the decision as a potentially negative thing for their businesses but not such a big deal. There will be other movies to show. And they’ll get Harry Potter next summer. One top executive at a major chain who asked to remain anonymous responded this way: “Twilight the film that replaced Potter’s November release slot is based on the vampire book series by author Stephenie Meyer and has a strong following among teenage girls.  The book’s fans seem to be primed to see their favorite story brought to the bring screen and the Twilight author is suggested as heir apparent to J.K. Rowling in a recent USA Today story. Will Twilight perform as well as a Harry Potter - who knows?  Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and the new Bond film Quantum of Solace also open in November so it appears there will be plenty of good product for moviegoers to choose from despite Potter moving into 2009.” Ray Hallett owner/operator of Hallett Cinemas a small chain of theatres in south central Washington perhaps expressed it best. When I asked him via email to comment on the situation he replied “Twenty-five years in exhibition has taught me that I'm a terrible judge of what the public wants. When I think we have a great slate coming up it doesn't strike a chord with the public and vice versa. I think that holes in scheduling get filled with something. Our business is most like horse racing you place your bet and wait to see what horse wins but however it turns out it seems there's always another race and somebody always wins (even if the purse is a little smaller). I'm not upset about it.” Still there is a point to be made about this situation in terms of the emerging digital cinema era. Granted the studios have every right to release their major movies when they want (translation usually in the summer) regardless of the impact on their exhibition partners. Ongoing pleas from NATO and others that they adopt a release pattern that doesn’t always adhere to the self-fulfilling “truth” that big movies do best in certain months have produced few concrete results. And history suggests that competitive pressures will auger against this situation changing soon if ever. Despite this the exhibition business should not – and thanks to digital cinema – need not be such a gamble.  Successful exhibitors understand their communities and can gauge what appeals to their patrons. With digital cinema they now have greater flexibility in what content they show and when they show it. In the coming years as alternative content continues to evolve and improve as audiences get more accustomed to going to their local theatre for events other than Hollywood movies the impact of a major film’s release being delayed will be greatly reduced if not eliminated. That’s not wizardry. That’s the way things are headed. AttachmentSize bigpicture134_1.jpg3.55 KB