In March, we learned that the seventh book of the Harry Potter series will be split into two films. Now we're being informed that the sixth book, Half-Blood Prince, will not be released this November as scheduled, but July 2009. The president of Warner Bros. studios 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."
While I am peeved—after seeing the trailer—about not getting to see it this fall, I'm glad they informed us of this now and not a week before it was supposed to hit theaters. The Harry Potter community is a rowdy bunch and I don't think they would've accepted such a major delay.
UPDATE: Perez reported that the real reason the movie was moved was because Daniel Radcliffe will be starring in the provocative Broadway play Equus this fall and they don't want people to be turned off by his bare chest and...horse humping. If it's true, they better hope Emma Watson and Rupert Grint don't do anything stupid in the next year or they'll have to make up some other lie for postponing it.
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