HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Moved to July 17 2009

In the worst news category, here’s one, Warner Bros has just announced that they were moving HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE release from November 21 2008 to July 17 2009.
The reason is attributed to the writer’s strike:
“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,” said Alan Horn, prexy and chief operating officer of Warner Bros.
The fact that Warner Bros also wanted to strengthen its summer 2009 releases is also suggested as a reason for the move.
I think all that’s left for me to do is cry. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince along with Twilight were the two movies I was looking forward to the most this year. Actually Harry Potter is the movie I look forward to in general. November seemed far enough and now you’re telling me I have to wait until July?! Not cool Warner Bros, not cool.
I guess it’s time for me to read those Harry Potter books again to fill the void left this November.
Ok enough crying. The good news in all this is that the release dates for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which will be split in two parts, will not be affected. Part 1 and Part 2 will premiere in the fall 2010 and summer 2011 respectively.
(Source: Variety)