Harry Potter's Next Trick? Moving Half-Blood's Arrival

• Aug 14, 2008 11:52 PM ET
• by movienews

Harry Potter may be the master of magic, but now, he's also the master of movie scheduling changes. Warner Brothers announced that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the next installment of the franchise, will open in Summer 2009, pushed back from the original November 2008 target.

The change, the studio said, was for reasons related to box office potential and the writers' strike. "We know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release," Warner's president and CEO said in a statement. "Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers' strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films - changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of."

Before you try and make all this bad news disappear, there is a silver lining for Potter fans: Warner notes that Half-Blood's new opening date, now set for July 17, 2009, closes the gap between that film and the next installment - part one of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - which opens in 2010.

Does the news cast a dark spell over your fall movie plans? - Anna Dimond

More Potter Magic:
" VIDEO: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince First Look!