Many die-hard Harry Potter fans were alarmed at the end of July to find that the highly anticipated release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was pushed back from its original November 21 , 2008 date until July 17, 2009. The reason for this? Greed. As much as Warner Bros. said that it wasn’t to make the fans angry, we all know that it is to make us pay in more ways than money.

Warner Bros. smash hit of the summer, The Dark Knight, has almost generated enough revenue to be crowned the highest grossing movie of all time (according to Entertainment Weekly). It is currently in second place, trailing the 1997 release of Titanic, which is the highest grossing movie of all time in box office sales. Due to these stats, it is evident that Warner Bros. doesn’t care about the consumer, they just want our money.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Time Warner studios reports that they have been sent threatening letters, hate mail, and even death threats by die- hard fans over the delay in the release. When an executive of the company tried to write a formal apology on the Harrypotter.com website, many fans, including this one, were made to feel that our wants don’t matter and that corporate greed is all big business cares about.

Just hours after the official announcement of the movie delay, online petitions were formed, and in a matter of days over 45,000 electronic signatures were placed on them. Mugglenet.com reports that message boards almost crashed due to the overwhelming desire to visit the petition pages and sign them. Youtube.com has even become home to many emotional “Hate” videos from fans. This is the first time in Warner Bros. history that the decision to delay a movie caused such an uproar. Just two days after the theatrical trailer was released, the decision to delay the movie was made. It that right?

I believe it is safe to say that, luckily, J.K. Rowling’s new book, The Tales of Beedle Bard comes out in December. Now Harry Potter fans will have something to look forward to. It's scheduled to be out in stores on December 4, 2008. Hopefully, this date is correct, otherwise World War III may occur.

To read the apology from Warner Bros. visit www.harrypotter.com