Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie delayed to 2009

I don’t know about you but I was really looking forward to seeing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at the cinema this November – but it’s been delayed until next Summer!

The new world-wide release date is scheduled for July 17, 2009. The announcement was made by Alan Horn who is the President and Chief Operating Office for Warner Bros. He said:

“Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last ‘Harry Potter’ film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. 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. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”

Apparently the delay of the Half Blood Prince will not affect the release dates of the subsequent Harry Potter movies. The President of Warner Bros, Jeff Robinov confirmed:

“The release date change does not alter the production schedule for this or future ‘Harry Potter’ films. Post-production on ‘Half-Blood Prince’ was completed on time, and the studio’s release plans for the two-part ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ will not be affected by this change. We know Harry Potter fans are eagerly anticipating seeing the final chapters unfold onscreen. In fact, the good news for them is that the gap will now be shortened between ‘Half-Blood Prince’ and the first part of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.’”

I suppose every cloud does have a silver lining!