A couple of days ago, Warner Brother’s announced that all eight of the ‘Harry Potter’ films would no longer be available on DVD or Blu-ray after December 29th of this year. This announcement set off a backlash from some fans claiming that the move was akin to Disney’s practice of locking away classics in their vaults to squeeze money from fans every few years with special limited editions of their films.
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly yesterday, Jeff Baker, the SVP/GM of WB’s Theatrical Catalog, attempted to clear the air about what’s really going down with the ‘Harry Potter’ movies. He made it clear that, while Warner Brothers will not be shipping out any new copies of the films on either DVD or Blu-ray, they will still be available as video-on-demand, streaming, and digital download (as was stated in the original announcement).
Baker was also quick to point out that, while WB won’t ship any new Potter movies, they aren’t pulling any off of store shelves, as was originally understood, either. Baker says, “There will be Potter product come the first of the year. Over time, there’ll be less and less of that inventory. At some point, whether it’s next April or May or June or July, it’ll probably be very difficult to find Harry Potter product, especially if you’re looking for the third movie or the fifth movie, for example.”
So while WB is stopping any new ‘Harry Potter’ releases after the 29th, including the Complete 8 Film Collection box set which comes out on November 11th, it doesn’t mean the it’s all over for the boy wizard. Baker also noted that even that 8-film set doesn’t include the special edition of the final two films and stated that “some grand kind of piece” could hit around the end of 2012.
