Potter's Christmas Plans Scuppered 8/15/08

Harry Potter fans will have to wait for their next fix of magic - the boy wizard's latest adventure won't be released until next summer (09).

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince was scheduled to hit cinemas around the world in November (08), but the three month long Hollywood writers' strike, which brought filming on all major projects to a standstill over Christmas (07) and into the New Year (08), has led to production problems.

According to trade publication The Hollywood Reporter, bosses at movie studio Warner Bros. have been forced to delay the film's release by eight months because they fear the movie won't be ready to compete at the Christmas (08) box office.

A statement from Warner Bros. executives reads, "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."