Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Director:

David Yates

Writers (WGA):

Steve Kloves (screenplay)
J.K. Rowling (novel)

Release Date:

15 July 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

Once again I must ask too much of you, Harry

Plot:

As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.

Plot Keywords:

Harry Potter | Book | Dark | Blood | Dead Bird

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Daniel Radcliffe	...	Harry Potter
Rupert Grint	...	Ron Weasley
Emma Watson	...	Hermione Granger
Jim Broadbent	...	Professor Horace Slughorn
Elarica Gallacher	...	Waitress
Robbie Coltrane	...	Rubeus Hagrid
Michael Gambon	...	Professor Albus Dumbledore
Maggie Smith	...	Professor Minerva McGonagall
Alan Rickman	...	Professor Severus Snape
Bonnie Wright	...	Ginny Weasley
James Phelps	...	Fred Weasley
Oliver Phelps	...	George Weasley
Julie Walters	...	Molly Weasley
Mark Williams	...	Arthur Weasley
David Thewlis	...	Remus Lupin

Also Known As:

HP and the HBP (International: English title) (informal short title)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Hong Kong: English title)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: An IMAX 3D Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
The Half-Blood Prince (USA) (short title)
Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Argentina) (Mexico) (Peru) (Spain) (Venezuela) [es]
Hali Bote - Hunxue wangzi de beipan (Hong Kong: Mandarin title) (Taiwan) [zh]
Harry Potter et le prince de sang-mêlé (Belgium: French title) (dubbed version) (France) [fr]
Гарри Поттер и Принц-полукровка (Russia) [ru]
Хари Потър и Нечистокръвният принц (Bulgaria: Bulgarian title) [bg]
Halei Bodak - Wanhyut wongji dik buibun (Hong Kong: Cantonese title) [zh]
Hali Bote yu hunxue wangzi (China: Mandarin title) [zh]
Hari Poter i polukrvni princ (Serbia) [sr]
Hari Poter i polukrvniot princ (Republic of Macedonia) [mk]
Haris Poteris ir netikras princas (Lithuania) [lt]
Harri Potter i napivkrovnyj prync (Ukraine) [uk]
Harry Potter és a félvér herceg (Hungary) [hu]
Harry Potter a Polovicný princ (Slovakia) [sk]
Harry Potter a Princ dvojí krve (Czech Republic) [cs]
Harry Potter e il principe mezzosangue (Italy) [it]
Harry Potter e o Enigma do Príncipe (Brazil) [pt]
Harry Potter e o Príncipe Misterioso (Portugal) [pt]
Harry Potter en de halfbloed prins (Netherlands) (literal title) [nl]
Harry Potter i Princ mijesane krvi (Croatia) [hr]
Harry Potter i ksiaze polkrwi (Poland) [pl]
Harry Potter ja puoliverinen prinssi (Finland) [fi]
Harry Potter ja segavereline prints (Estonia) [et]
Harry Potter och Halvblodsprinsen (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Harry Potter och halvblodsprinsen (Sweden) [sv]
Harry Potter og halvblodsprinsen (Norway) [no]
Harry Potter og halvblodsprinsen (Denmark) [da]
Harry Potter si printul semipur (Romania) [ro]
Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz (Germany) [de]
Harry Potter ve melez prens (Turkey: Turkish title) (informal literal title) [tr]
Harry Potter wa al-amir al-hajin (Morocco: Arabic title) (long title) [ar]
Harry Potter y el misterio del principe (International: Spanish title) [es]
O Harry Potter kai o imiaimos prigips (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality.

Runtime:

153 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Croatian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #45077) | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Finland:K-11 | Norway:11 | Hong Kong:IIA | Australia:M | South Korea:All | Singapore:PG | Brazil:12 | Iceland:10 | Canada:G (Quebec) | New Zealand:M | Japan:G | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Sweden:11 | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Peru:14 | Taiwan:GP | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

Bjorli, Norway

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Robert Knox, who plays Marcus Belby, was tragically stabbed to death on May 24, 2008, just days after filming wrapped.

Goofs:

Continuity: Aragog is a great deal smaller in this movie than he was in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).

Quotes:

Albus Dumbledore: You must be wondering why I brought you here.
Harry Potter: Actually sir, after all these years I just sort of go with it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: (#8.22)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

The Quidditch March

My favorite Potter movie (coming from an avid fan)

Let me start off by saying, I am a huge HP fan. I have read the books countless times, am a daily visitor on MuggleNet, and have subscribed to Mugglecast for four years. The books are definitely where it's at, and the movies are so-so. I can still remember storming out of the theatre after OOTP two years ago, yelling the whole way home about how David Yates screwed everything up and how awful of a movie it was altogether, story line and directing style. However, the Half-Blood Prince surpassed each of the last 5 movies greatly in almost aspect.

I came into the movie theater completely stoked because of all of the positive reviews it was getting on Rotten Tomatoes. After seeing all the previews last fall, I thought the general look of the movie was just overall better. And it was. I owe David Yates a huge apology for cursing his name so many times over the last two years. This was a great picture and I know the next two will be great as well. I also owe Michael Gambon a bit of an apology, but WHERE WAS THIS DUMBLEDORE THE LAST 3 MOVIES?? Gambon totally exceeded my expectations, he was so good in HBP! I could not stand him at all in the previous three, he was just a grumpy old gray man. In HBP he was old, wise, with his white shiny hair he was supposed to have the whole time. A great performance out of him, so great I really really wish we had seen this out of him in the other movies.

When I first saw Slughorn in the previews, I was completely irritated. He was supposed to be a largely obese man with a big mustache? But then I got to thinking, how many quality actors are actually really fat? There's only two answers- Richard Griffiths and that fat guy from the Diabetes commercial. Neither of them could play Slughorn. Broadbent made this movie, I love that dang cooky smile he always had on and how his eyes just always looked so crazy...I can't describe it but I loved it. He performed amazingly.

I know people are upset about the omission of the battle and confused on the burrow scene, and I will say I partly agree with you. The Burrow scene was in there to show that the death eaters were f***ing s**t up this whole time. Remember in the book how they read the paper every morning and reading about everythign that was happening? That scene was a lot better than having stupid newspaper flashbacks or whatever they had in OOTP.

For me, it was the little things that made this movie. When they include tiny details from the book, it really makes it special to me. I was ecstatic that they had the whole Aragog burial scene, it was so well done and I was glad to see Hagrid get some screen time. Also, just random little lines that were so similar to the book, it makes the movie that much more special.

For everyone who's complaining about how funny it is- lighten up! This is how it's supposed to be. I catch myself laughing out loud whenever I read the books, they're hilarious. JK just has a writing style that can be so serious at one point and hilarious the next, I was laughing and enjoying myself the whole time, it just really made me feel good.

Overall, really spectacular movie. The people complaining about how they left too much stuff out are also the ones complaining that it jumped around. I liked how they focused on central things and really got deep into them, instead of going ADD and showing every little possible thing for 30 seconds. Whether you liked it or not, you really do have to admire the trio growing and Gambon and Broadbent's performances, they were so outstanding. Go see it again! I know I am.