Harry PotterThe opening date for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” has changed again, but Muggles shouldn’t despair – this time, it’s moving up in the calendar.

Warner Bros. has announced that the sixth film in the J.K. Rowling series will now hit theatres on July 15, two days earlier than planned. The Wednesday release will give the movie a head-start on the weekend box office for a potentially huge five-day gross.

“Every day the kids are out of school in summer is just like an extra Saturday,” Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., told the AP on Tuesday.

The franchise’s most recent release, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” also hit theatres on a Wednesday during the lucrative summer blockbuster season.

“Half-Blood Prince” was originally slated for release last November, but Warner Bros. announced in August that the film would open in July 2009 instead, citing the success of the previous movie’s July opening as well as the Hollywood writers’ strike.

The seventh and final installment, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be released as two films, with part one opening on Nov. 19, 2010 and part two coming out on July 15, 2011.






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