New ‘Harry Potter’ film due Thanksgiving '08

LOS ANGELES - “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth installment of the lucrative franchise, will come out in theaters on Nov. 21, 2008.

Now, Warner Bros. just needs to hire a director and confirm the cast. The fifth installment, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” bows in July.

The “Prince” date will mark a return to the Thanksgiving period for the sorcerer series. Of the four “Potter” films to date, only the third installment, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” has been released during the summer.

Paramount Pictures also has just planted a flag in November 2008, declaring Nov. 7 for DreamWorks Animation’s “Madagascar” sequel. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett-Smith and David Schwimmer are set to reprise their roles as the main characters of the animated franchise.

Warners also announced films for holiday weekends next year. The studio has set the Mandy Moore romantic comedy “License to Wed” on the July 4 holiday weekend in an early counterprogramming move against the Paramount/DreamWorks production “The Transformers,” from director Michael Bay. Warners also has declared Nov. 21, 2007, for the Will Smith sci-fi vehicle “I Am Legend.”

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