Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been pushed back from November 21, 2008 to July 17, 2009.
The studio's Alan Horn said, "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."
Warner Bros. said it still plans to release the two-part adaptation of the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows," as planned, with Part I coming November 19, 2010 and Part II in May of 2011.
Universal Pictures' Land of the Lost is also scheduled for a July 17, 2009 release date. We'll have to see if the studio will keep the date now that it's facing the juggernaut franchise.
To take advantage of the move by "Harry Potter," Walt Disney Pictures has moved up its animated adventure Bolt five days to November 21.
In other release news, Columbia Pictures has moved the Will Smith drama Seven Pounds one week to December 19 and Fox Atomic has put romantic comedy I Love You Beth Cooper on the crowded weekend of March 27, 2009.
This is really disappointing news as I was really looking forward to the one-two punch of the new Potter and James Bond films in November. Now an already thin looking slate for fall has gotten even skimpier. Apparently not even magic could withstand the effects of the writers' strike.
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