Next year for the Half-Blood Prince

Even with strictly enforced time away from the computer during vacation, the news regarding Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie release date managed to infiltrate my little world away. Seems as if the Warner Brother's Batman movie made enough money for the fiscal year 2008 and they need a guaranteed cash cow for 2009. Unfortunately for Potter movie fans their favorite boy wizard was named the sacrificial lamb; the release date has been pushed from November 2008 to July 2009.

Half-Blood Prince Release Pushed Back
Hollywood Reporter- 8/14/08

"In a surprise move, Warner Bros. has moved the release date of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from Nov. 21 to July 17. Warners president Alan Horn blame last winter's 100-day WGA strike in large part for the shift, suggesting all the major studios have been hurt in the development of new tentpole films for next summer."

Half-Blood Prince Release Date Pushed Back to Summer
MTV Movie News

"Horn added that "like every other studio," Warner Bros. was still "feeling the repercussions of the writers' strike," which had affected scripts for other films, and changed "the competitive landscape for 2009." Because of this, the studio felt next summer was a "new window of opportunity" for the franchise. The film's producer, David Heyman, concurred, saying that this would allow them to "reach the widest possible audience.""

There is already a grass-roots online-effort underway petitioning Warner Brothers to use the oringinal release date. As of this evening, there are 452 signatures affixed to the web page.

Change the Half-Blood Prince Release Date Back to November 21, 2008

To: Warner Brother's Studios
"Harry Potter fandom is angered to discover that the Half-Blood Prince release date has been moved back nearly a year even after production has been completed to simply make more money in the summer vs a release in the fall. The first release date was November 21, 2008 and has now been moved back to July 17, 2009. As a fan base we need to fix this problem so please sign and let WB know we mean business."

Interested in more information?

• Harry Potter Film pulls vanishing act on cover of EW
• AFP: Studio "Muggles" postpone new Harry Potter Film until 2009
• AP: Poof! Next Harry Potter flick moves to summer
• Potter Delay Hexes, Vexes, Perplexes
• Next Harry Potter movie pushed back to July 2009
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Moves to Summer 2009
  

Don't forget ...

• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Photos

Random musings? I do not particularly care about the writers strike and studio issues, it was a problem of their own making. I can say I wonder about the quality of the movies WB may have in their house planned for release in 2009. Is it not odd they do not have enough faith in the films slated for release next year and as a result HP is being delayed.

I can only begin to imagine the domino effect this decision will have on retailers merchandising for Halloween (costumes) or Christmas (toys, action figures, DVD's, and books). My dad has been looking for HP accessories for his train layout (he has two different Hogwarts train sets). I recently purchased the Weasley Car (it came with Harry and Ron, very cute) and the Knights Bus for him and we were waiting until November to expand the search since we believed more would be available in conjunction with the movie release. Now it seems I was lucky to get the two pieces.

Guess two books I read over summer vacation?