'Harry Potter' saga concludes on DVD/Blu-ray on November 11
Posted Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 2:27 PM Central
Last updated Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:24 PM Central
by John Couture
The DVD/Blu-ray combo pack will have special lenticular artwork
Like the old saying goes, "all good things come to an end." This Summer marked the theatrical end of the Harry Potter journey with the release of Deathly Hallows, Part 2 and on November 11, the home entertainment chapter will close on this franchise - quite literally.
Today, Warner Bros. announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will debut on DVD and Combo DVD/Blu-ray on November 11. While this release was imminent and the date has been speculated in many circles, what we were hoping to get with the official announcement, namely a list of special features, was noticeably lacking.
The only reference to bonus features was the coy line on the sell sheet, "over 3 hours of in-depth bonus content that fans will want to see." There was also an announcement of a complete 8 film collection on Blu-ray, but the set did not appear to be a special edition with additional bonus features than what was previously available with the movies.
What was interesting though was a bit of marketing panache that Warner Bros. is borrowing from their friends over at Disney. According to the sell sheet that you can see below, Warner Bros. is warning of an impending moratorium on Harry Potter titles.
Disney routinely puts their classic animated movies into their so-called "vault" and makes them unavailable for retail consumption for a period of years. After which, they release special editions and reap the rewards with a whole new generation of children with an appetite to see 40, 50 and even 60 year old movies.
Again, the details are sketchy, but it would appear from this release that Warner Bros. is planning on taking the Harry Potter titles off of the market for a period of time to allow for anticipation to build. One would then assume that they would release a collector's edition version of the films with even more content and special features.
Of course, that's pure speculation on my part, but I have been in this business for many years and that just feels like the move that Warner Bros. will make. For now, the suggested retail price of the DVD/Blu-ray combo pack is $35.99, while the stand alone DVD is $28.98. The 8 movie collection will have a suggested retail price of $139.99 on Blu-ray and $98.92 on DVD.
