PopSyndicate.com

The boy wizard gets a bigger weekend next year.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth installment in the book and film series, has been moved from its original release date of November 21st to a summer release on July 17, 2009. 

With a crowded holiday season quickly approaching, Warner Brothers decided to take advantage of an open weekend during the summer.  This is the same week that “The Dark Knight” opened this year and it is quickly approaching the $500 million box office mark.  Warner Brothers had success with the fifth “Harry Potter” release, which went on to become the second highest grossing film in the series. 

Moving the “Half-Blood Prince” to next year means there will be a two year gap between the fifth and sixth movies but will have a little more than a year between the last two films.  “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is being split into two films with the first half being released in November 2010 and the second in the summer of 2011.