Mmmmm, nah.
News recently swept the nets/tubes that Warner Brothers would be taking the Disney vault approach to Harry Potter and locking that shit up tight come the end of the year. Of course, WB’s dedication to keeping their most valuable property out of the hands of the public will only be so strong, in fact you may never even miss the boy wizard at all…
First off is the obvious addition of digital options to the marketplace, which WB has no plans to cut off and will thus make the films as easily watched as ever through streaming services and digital downloads. Beyond that though, Deadline spoke with a WB home video executive that suggests you likely won’t have any trouble finding a physical copy of any of the films until well into next year.
“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.”
The printing runs and inventory of these films is already so incredibly massive that this wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. But yes, eventually supplies will dry up and… you’ll just have to wait a few more months. Anyone holding out for a complete set of special editions of every movie will only have to wait till the end of next year, maybe the beginning of 2013 according to that same exec. All in all this sounds less like the wizarding franchise being locked in a vault and more like the disc stampers taking a quick breather.
This was all easily guessed by how WB has handled release of films like Blade Runner and Wizard of Oz, but most blatantly assured by the fact that this year’s supposed “ultimate collection” leaves the final two volumes without ultimate editions.
All of this to say, had WB not said mentioned it, I’d doubt anyone would have noticed a remarkable drought in Daniel Radcliffe’s face on the shelves in the next year…
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