'Harry Potter' DVDs and Blu-Ray Soon to be Gone from Stores

Warner Bros. is about to pull a Disney on us. No, they're not going to start making only animated movies and live-action films that involve an animal that plays sports... they're about to employ "The Vault."

In an effort to boost sales of the "Harry Potter" movie franchise, the final installment of which is about to be available on DVD and Blu-Ray in early November, Warner Bros. is planning to pull all Potter movies from stores by the end of the year.

If you walk into a Best Buy in 2012, you're not likely to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" or any of the other films (or the various box sets) anywhere in the store.

It seems that Disney's now-infamous "Vault" plan has rubbed off on the Warner folks. Disney often employs this same tactic, taking their movies and putting them in "The Vault," at which point they stop shipping to stores. Then later, at a usually abritrary date, Disney will resume shipping again.

It's interesting that Warner Bros. is pulling the HP films so early, though. With "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" hitting shelves on Nov. 11th, and the cessation of shipping set for Dec. 29th, that leaves less than two months of shipments for a brand-new film and "Harry Potter" box sets, which will now be complete with all eight movies.

Of course, this short window to buy also conveniently falls right during the holiday season, so it makes perfect sense. Nothing makes consumers think they need to buy NOW than a "limited-time offer," so there should be a lot of Potter DVDs being wrapped in festive paper this year.