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Warner Brothers said on Thursday that it would not release ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,'' the sixth film in the franchise, on Nov. 21 as planned, shifting the opening to July 17. Warner Brothers needed a blockbuster release next summer more than it did this fall, a studio official said, particularly because ''The Dark Knight'' had so strongly exceeded box office expectations this year. Like its Hollywood rivals, Warner is still feeling the effects of the recent screenwriters' strike, which affected the readiness of scripts for 2009. Warner also noted that Harry Potter films have tended to perform better during the summer than they have at holiday time, when families have more demands on their leisure time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]