Next 'Harry Potter' Film Bumped to 2009

(Aug. 14) - Muggles, get ready to cry into your Butterbeer.

In a surprising move, Warner Bros. announced Thursday that it is pushing "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from its planned Nov. 21 release date to July 17, 2009, instead.

Studio President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn said in a press release that the reasons for the switch are twofold. The first reason: "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."

And the second cause for worldwide Muggle tears: "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."

Despite the move, Warners says the movie, which was directed by David Yates, completed post-production on time. And, more importantly, the studio claims that the release plans for the two-part adaptation of the seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," remain unaltered.

Part one of "The Deathly Hallows" is scheduled to hit theaters Nov. 19, 2010.