Out with the boy wizard, in with the teen vampire.

“Twilight,” Summit Entertainment’s big-screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance novel, has moved its North American release date from Dec. 12 to Nov. 21, the former opening day for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”

As previously reported, Warner Bros. recently pushed the premiere of “Half-Blood Prince,” based on the sixth book in J.K. Rowling’s hugely popular fantasy series, to July 2009. The studio said they wanted to capitalize on the lucrative summer movie-going season and cited the effects of the Hollywood writers’ strike.

“When Warner Bros. decided to move ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ to the summer of 2009, we saw a unique opportunity to slot in our film which has been gaining tremendous awareness and momentum over the past several months,” Rob Friedman, Summit’s co-chairman and CEO, wrote in a statement.

He added, “We by no means are trying to fill the shoes of the incredible Potter franchise for 2008, rather we are just looking to bring the fans of Stephenie Meyer’s incredible book series the film as soon possible from a programming perspective.”

“Twilight” is directed by “Thirteen” helmer Catherine Hardwicke and stars Kristen Stewart (”In the Land of Women”) and Robert Pattinson. Coincidentally, Pattinson played Cedric Diggory in two “Harry Potter” films.






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