The release date of the sixth and next Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has been pushed back from November 21, 2008 to July 17, 2009. Potter news site HPANA has confirmed with Warner Brothers and has info from a variety of Warner Brothers and Potter people, as follows.

Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Bros.:

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.

Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group:

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.

David Heyman, producer:

When Jeff Robinov explained the rationale behind moving the release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to July 2009, it was immediately apparent that this offered us the potential to reach the widest possible audience. I am extremely proud of this latest film and of the work of David Yates and our incomparable cast; I believe we have developed and pushed the series further still. We are all looking forward to sharing it with Harry Potter fans around the world, even if we have to wait just a bit longer.

Thanks to HPANA for sharing the unfortunate news and for the info. The official Potter site has been updated with the info, as has our filmography page (which should, incidentally, be seeing some updates soon).

EDIT: Thanks to Sher, who let us know that Emma’s official site has been updated with news about Emma’s A Level results! Congratulations go out to Emma, who received A’s in her three subjects: English literature, geography, and art. Hurray!

The gallery also seems to be back up, so check it out and have fun!

EDIT: More happy news! Thanks to Oh No They Didn’t!, we have scans from an article on HPHBP in next week’s Entertainment Weekly. There are no new Emma images, but she does come up and it’s pretty interesting. You can check out the scans at ihwmedia.net right here.

I’ve also begun an extensive page on the film over in the filmography section. You can check that out here – and if there’s anything else you’d like to see there, please, do let me know, I’d love to know how I can make the site more interesting and helpful to you!

EDIT! New still for Half Blood Prince or an Order of the Phoenix still? Discuss? - Kaetlyn