“It’s the end of the world as we know it,” sings R.E.M. — and Harry Potter fans in the United States.

As previously announced, new shipments of Harry Potter DVD/Blu-rays to retail stores will end today in this country. Warner Bros. is placing the films into a “vault” of sorts similar to what Disney does for their classics.

The original announcement was met with a lot of outrage from fans. Why would they stop selling these films?

While WB hasn’t been forthright in their reasoning, it can be assumed they want to create a shortage so they can re-release them in 2012 with bigger and badder versions.

I wrote about this decision when it was made, and you can read that piece right here.

A new Harry Potter DVD/Blu-ray boxset appears to be in the works for the new year, and I expect it to be available at the end of 2012.

For now, get ’em while you can!

Also be sure to vote in our poll which asked earlier this month if you planned on buying the discs before they left shelves.