Sixth Harry Potter film delayed
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Sixth Harry Potter film delayed


Fans will have a hard time waiting for the famous trio to reunite again

18 Aug – Like a bolt of lightning on Harry Potter’s forehead, it has shocked many fans of the popular boy wizard franchise, as they unfortunately will have to wait until next year for the sixth movie adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s books, “Harry Potter And The Half Blood-Prince”. The release date scheduled to be in Malaysia on the 20 December this year has moved to July 2009 much to the disappointment of fans all over the nation.

According to media reports, Warner Bros. Pictures president and CEO Alan Horn said that the reason for their decision was to guarantee the studio a major blockbuster in 2009. Moreover, it was followed by the recent Hollywood writer’s strike, which apparently caused a scene in the movie industry this year agreeing that the best strategy was to release the movie next year. He also assured that the picture is full on schedule and the change was not due to any production hitches, as speculated by some industry observers.

Chan Ju Lyirn, a fanatic of the books and film has expressed his disappointment and said: “This is crazy! The film was going to be showing in the cinemas within three months time and now they want to delay it to next year! Well, looks like another long wait”. Nurnubailah Hashim, who began being a fan since the release of the fourth book, “Globlet Of Fire” said: “I’m a bit disappointed as it was the only other thing I was waiting for this year besides Batman. Good thing now the gap between Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows is shorter. I just hope in future they won’t postpone Deathly Hallows!”


Daniel Radcliffe (left) and Emma Watson (right) continues to play the role as Harry and Hermione.

A scene from the vampire romance flick “Twilight”

With the recent shift in the Potter release date, many films were affected, including anticipated vampire romance film “Twilight”, which has a large book following. Its international appeal extended to local shores when some fans contacted Cinema Online regarding the movie, which is not as widely known on the home front. In Northern America, the movie was due 12 December, opposite “The Day The Earth Stood Still” starring popular actor Keanu Reeves, but is now moved forward to 21 November. After Warner confirmed the Potter shift on Thursday, studios rushed to move “Twilight” into holiday primetime. Summit Entertainment co-chairman and CEO Rob Friedman was reported to say: “Their move created an opportunity to bring the movie three weeks earlier to fans.”

Locally, “Twilight” is to miss its US day-date release, and will come in via Tayangan Unggul and Sony Pictures Releasing International in March 2009, according to the distributor.


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