Potter Diehards Putting Hex on Warner Bros.

Irked by delayed film release, faithful fire off petitions, death threats
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 8, 2008 10:47 AM CDT
Potter Diehards Putting Hex on Warner Bros.
Fans dressed as characters from the Harry Potter series lined up at a London bookshop ahead of the 2007 release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the series' book.    (AP Photo)

Warner Brothers’ postponement of the release of the sixth Harry Potter film enraged some diehard “Potterheads,” inspiring a wave of angry emails, picketing, and mocking YouTube clips directed at the studio, the Wall Street Journal reports. When president Alan Horn decided to push the picture from November to next summer, “what he was doing was screwing up the world,” said a 51-year-old fan.

Warner Bros. has faced a 45,000-name petition registering dismay; an overdubbed video of Hitler, shocked at the news; and even death threats. “I hope you choke on your own saliva,” wrote one fan. Horn apologized, saying the studio “would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films.” But for many, that’s not enough. “I won't stop fighting this,” said one. (More Harry Potter stories.)

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