HARRY POTTER - NEW HARRY POTTER FILM DELAYED BY EIGHT MONTHS

NEW HARRY POTTER FILM DELAYED BY EIGHT MONTHS

The release of the new Harry Potter film has been delayed by eight months, Warner Bros have said.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been set to be released in November of this year, but it will now come out in July 2009.

Trailers of the new film have already been released and fans of the Harry Potter films and books will be bitterly disappointed by the news.

Warner Bros announced that it had decided to bolster its release schedule for next summer by moving the film to next year.

"We know the summer season is an ideal window for a family... 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 instalment," Warner Bros president Alan Horn said.

The date change will not affect plans for the filming of the last Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hollows, the studio confirmed.

The book will be shot as two separate films with the first instalment due to be released late 2010.