Now this is what I call a tease.

After being shown the best Harry Potter trailer to date, Warner Bros. has cruelly pulled the rug out from under eager fans. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, originally scheduled for a Nov. 21 release, will now debut next July.

According to Alan Horn, Warner’s chief operating officer, the surprising decision was the result of the lengthy writers’ strike. Due to production delays, the studio doesn’t foresee having other blockbusters ready in time for the upcoming summer season.

“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. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tentpole release for midsummer.”

So if you happen to be a subscriber of Entertainment Weekly, you might just want to ignore the Harry Potter issue headed for your mailbox this week. Just put it straight into your desk drawer and save it for July 17.