‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ shifts opening date again

Movies News

By Patrick Luce Apr 16, 2009, 12:48 GMT

Warner Bros. has changed the release date for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" again. The film will now open on Wednesday, July 15th – two days earlier than expected. Fans get ready!

Fans get ready! "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" hits the big screen two days early.Variety reports the studio tends to plan Wednesday release dates for big summer flicks, but had scheduled to open the latest Potter adventure on Friday, July 17th.The film was originally scheduled to open Nov. 21st, 2008, but Warner pushed it to a summer opening – which upset many of the franchise’s fans who didn’t want to wait for the finished movie.The move was seen as a way for Warner Bros. to pad its summer muscle – which at the time was lacking in big-budget summer films. The studio is expecting "Terminator Salvation" (which WB handled distribution on for Halcyon) to be the other big summer gun. WB’s other summer films include the Todd Phillips comedy "Hangover," Robert Rodriguez’s "Shorts" and the latest film in the "Final Destination" horror franchise."Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is scheduled to open day-and-date internationally, and is expected to be another blockbuster for the franchise. The last installment, “Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix” brought in $938 million worldwide its 2007 summer run. The film will see the boy wizard once again taking on the evil Voldemort. Harry teams with Dumbledore to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses.