"Warner Home Video announced that as of December 29, 2011, it will stop shipping all home video editions of the "Harry Potter" films: DVDs and Blu-rays, standard and special editions, single discs and box sets."
More links:
http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/show/4896
Wait and see. I remember very well that the new book Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey should only be released in a limited edition. It was never said there should be translations into other languages. Now one german has asked the publisher, when he could expect the german translation and got the answer: in half a year. So much to the "limited edition".
Stopping shipping all home video editions of the films... would be shooting oneself in the foot. Does anyone really believe this? They want to make money. There are no new books, so no new films. The only way are the video editions, DVDs, Blue-rays, Ultimate editions, perhaps Director's cut. Does anyone really believe they refrain that? I can't believe this - and - I hope that. Harry granger 19:17, October 25, 2011 (UTC)
I don't see that happening, the movies are to much of a money maker for them. They're a veritable goldmine, especially with the renewed popularity of the series with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Everything to do with Harry Potter is still insanely popular, the books are still selling well, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure is always very crowded, especially Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Last I heard the island is still being closed regularly to more people entering as it is at capacity. I work at another of Central Florida's theme parks and I see Harry Potter shirts, lanyards, other items from there, even the occasional wizard's robes, all the time. They rival or beat out the "Thing" (from The Cat in the Hat) shirts that there are so many of we regularly get visitors asking where to buy them despite us being a competitor of Universal.
I'm thinking they're doing this to get people to go "Oh, no! Better buy them now before they're gone!" then Warner Brothers will say that due to the popularity they've decided not to discontinue them. If they do discontinue them they'll bring them back regularly, kind of like how Disney movies go in and out of the "vault" every few years. -Shorty1982 19:39, October 25, 2011 (UTC)
The term for this practice is artificial scarcity. Leading people to believe they won't have another chance to buy a movie for a long time may boost sales in the short-term, but as a long-term marketing strategy, it's horrible. It's only of long-term benefit to used video stores who "hoard" copies of the movie and resell them. I've been to places which were selling out-of-print Disney DVDs for twice their original price. It's hard to enjoy classic films and share them with the next generation when they become pricey collectibles.
I think we should start some type of petition or campaign. Warner Bros. may rethink this plan if there is enough backlash from fans over it. ★ Starstuff (Owl me!) 20:13, October 25, 2011 (UTC)
Good idea. It is annoying to be pressured by "artificial scarcity" only for monetizing. Harry granger 20:26, October 25, 2011 (UTC)