“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” director David Yates, right, goes over a scene with actor Jim Broadbent. The sequel will hit theaters July 15 and is expected to be one of the year’s biggest blockbusters.
Though the 'Harry Potter' films have been huge DVD sellers, each sequel has sold fewer units than its predecessor -- and raised the bar of profitability that much higher for Warner Bros.
Harry Potter, the teen wizard whose films have generated billions of dollars and become one of Hollywood's biggest franchises, is known for battling the evil Lord Voldemort. Now he's about to confront an even darker foe: A soft DVD market."Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth installment in the Warner Bros. film series, will be released July 15, and expectations are that it will be one of the year's biggest blockbusters. The previous five "Potter" movies have generated $7.2 billion in worldwide box-office and DVD sales, reaping huge profits for the studio and Potter's creator, author J.K. Rowling.
But the movie world that "Half-Blood Prince" will enter is markedly different from the one that its predecessor, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," faced when it was released in 2007. Over the last two years, DVD sales, which have long propped up the movie business, have sharply declined. The slump in the DVD market has undermined Hollywood's business model and cast a shadow over what used to be the industry's bright spot.
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