In his statement, the exec said: "Please be assured that we share your love for Harry Potter and would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films. Over the past 10 years, we have nurtured and protected each film, and the integrity of the books upon which they are based, to the best of our ability." Oh come on, Alan -- we all know the "books" you're most concerned with are your own. It's no secret that the move of Half-Blood Prince was to beef up your schedule for next year, since The Dark Knight has done more than enough for Warner Bros'. 2008 coffers. The move certainly wasn't done to benefit the film itself or the Harry Potter franchise. That said, Horn offered a bit more: "If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between Half-Blood Prince and the much-anticipated first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which opens in November 2010." (To which millions of Potter fans snarkily add: "...for now!")

And, I'm sorry, but his silver lining is kind of bullshit: The last Harry movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released in July of 2007, making the time gap between that and the new release date of Half-Blood Prince two years. My writer-type math skills may be fuzzy, but the two year gap he's so benevolently slicing off between Harrys is still going to happen. Personally, I'm going to just go bitch about it some more in the forums. Hell hath no fury like a Harry Potter geek scorned.