Some people thought that this was just a marketing ploy by Warner Bros but apparently it was written by JK herself. It is on the first page of the chapter titled Kings Cross, pg 705 in the US Books. Third paragraph, first sentence: “almost as soon as he had reached this conclusion, Harry became conscious that he was naked.” In JKR’s writing - so it’s definitely not a Warner Bros plot twist.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will not be released until next year. This is the penultimate film and was originally set to be released on November 11th 2009 is now expected July 17th 2009!!!

In a statement, Warners president Alan Horn said part of the reason for the shift was the writers strike, which left the studio in a bit of a dearth of tentpoles.

“Like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films-changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of,” he said. “We agreed the best strategy was to move Half-Blood Prince to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”

The studio then goes on to say they are still planning to release the two part movie adaptation for the final book.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news!

As to what happens in this film, read the book

Amidst this, Harry is starting private lessons with Professor Dumbledore, during which Harry learns the dark secrets of Voldemort’s past, hoping that they could use these secrets to find a way to defeat him.

Harry’s year gets even more stressful with the suspicious actions of Draco Malfoy, who has been sneaking around the school doing, so Harry assumes, Voldemort’s bidding. Harry quickly becomes determined, and slightly obsessed, to find out exactly what Malfoy has been up to and putting and end to it.

Yet, during this time, Harry and his friends go through daily life, busy with school work, Quidditch, (in which Harry has been made captain of the team) and of course, romance. Ron has found a new girlfriend, Lavender Brown, a perky (if not obnoxious) Gryffindor student, and Hermione is not happy about it. Ron and Hermione’s friendship takes a toll throughout the school year and Harry, as usual, is stuck in the middle. Harry, meanwhile, is facing a romantic dilemma of his own: he realizes he is falling for his best friend’s sister, Ginny Weasley, who is unfortunately dating Harry’s classmate, Dean Thomas. Harry’s pining for Ginny and Ron’s hilarious relationship with Lavender give this story a large dose of reality.

Throughout all the school drama, however, the obvious darkness of Voldemort’s impending rise to power is always apparent. The incredible action-packed climax is sure to leave the audience stunned and, inevitably, prove that you shouldn’t trust everybody who you think is good and also prove that not everyone can manage to survive.

Release date 21 November 2008