I’ve never been a fan of the Harry Potter franchise, but this news grates my nerves. Warner Bros., the studio that has banked more than $12 billion thanks to J.K. Rowling‘s world of wizards and wonder, has announced that they are pulling all eight of the Harry Potter movies out of circulation as of December 29, 2011. That means once store inventory runs out, they won’t be restocked.

The films will still be available in digital formats and the video games based on the series will remain for sale.

This move on Warner’s part reeks of Disney’s time-honored tactic of making their classic library titles available on VHS and DVD for a short amount of time throughout the years before being they stop shipping them to stores. I still get pissed off thinking of those commercials with that annoying narrator bleating heinous phrases such “available for a limited time only” and “buy them before they go back in the vaults.” So much for art belonging to the masses.

The target date also makes sense: Warner Bros. obviously wants to use the Christmas shopping spree to squeeze every last cent out of the franchise’s home viewing arm, which is fine for everyone except those who don’t have access to digital options like Netflix Instant and so forth. With the country spiraling ever further into a recession we need all the entertainment we can get, and this decision is not only cold and calculating, but also plain idiotic. But the Harry Potter movies have had stronger legs than most would have ever predicted prior to November 2001. Hopefully this won’t sour longtime fans of the franchise and newcomers alike.

[Source: Deadline]