Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DELAYED

Yep, thats right.  The geniuses over at Warner Brother have decided to delay the film until July of next year... and their reasoning?  I'll let them tell you in their own words.

"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."

"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.'"

So basically what they are telling us is that the film is basically done and that they are not moving it to improve the picture, but instead so they can make more money... ARE THEY FUCKING KIDDING????? This movie would have made plenty of money in November.  Hell they could release it in January and the film would still make hundreds of millions of dollars. Basically this is a move to bring the film's release date closer to that of the final part of the series so the wait isn't so long... and to make some extra cash since it will be summer time... like they need it.  To me, this is just a bad idea.  Releasing Half Blood Prince this year would have ensured that people would be eagerly awaiting the final installment (or two since its being split in half) of the series.  Now with the film moved to 2009, a full two years after the release of the final book, excitement may start to wain... Now I know that these books and these films are a phenomenon, but now that the book series is over many fans have moved on to greener pastures, which include the new obsession with the Twilight vampire book series.  Franchises like this come and go, and many may say that Harry Potter is forever and they might be right. But in the end Warner may end up losing a bit of money.  I hope they use this opportunity to make the Half Blood Prince better.  They have a full extra 8 months.  Re-shoot some shit, make the fx better, spend a long hard time on editing decisions.  In short, make this worth while for the fans... because if this film comes out and it doesn't live up to the hype, people are going to be pissed.  Do be greedy Warners just because The Dark Knight became much bigger of a hit for you than you originally thought.  Do the right thing and make this a great movie.