Way to annoy the fans, WB: Half-Blood Prince film suddenly moved to summer '09

Here’s the announcement via MarketWatch.

Warner Bros. says they’re rescheduling “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” because summer releases are better for family-oriented “tentpole” projects, and because the Writers’ Guild strike of late ‘07 / early ‘08 has unpredictably changed the pattern of other studios’ film releases for ‘08 / ’09.

While those are both believable claims, you can bet that a lot of people aren’t accepting them at face value. (This LA Times article suggests, among other things, that it’s Batman’s fault.)

I get the feeling that Warner’s going to have to do more than just whimper “We love our fans…” to derail the anger over this…

(ETA: Nikki Finke's take on the situation, from Deadline Hollywood Daily: with a rant from Entertainment Weekly)

Tags: Warner+Bros, Harry+Potter+and+the+Half-Blood+Prince, Rowling, delay, reschedule, anger