Following complaints from Harry Potter fans for the delay in releasing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Warner Bros. President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn has issued the following statement:

Many of you have written to me to express your disappointment in our moving "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" to Summer 2009.

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.

The decision to move Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was not taken lightly, and was never intended to upset our Harry Potter fans. We know you have built this series into what it is, and we thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm and support.

If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the much-anticipated first part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which opens in November 2010.

So although we have to wait a little longer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the wait from that film until "Deathly Hallows" will be less than 18 months.