'Twilight' to fill the slot left by delayed Harry Potter flick

London, August 18 : A film based on Stephenie Meyer's teen vampire novels, 'Twilight', will be released early in the slot left by the delayed film 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', which has been pushed back to July 2009.

Twilight, which was to be released in the U.S. on December12, will now be released on November 21.

However, it is not known whether the UK will follow suit.

Though relatively unknown in the UK, Meyer's books create the same kind of excitement in the U.S. as J.K. Rowling's novels.

'Twilight' stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who has played Cedric Diggory in two Harry Potter films.

Rob Friedman from Summit said that the delay in the sixth Harry Potter flick's release offered them a great opportunity to entertain Stephenie Meyer's fans as early as possible.

"We saw a unique opportunity to slot in our film, which has been gaining tremendous awareness and momentum over the past several months," the BBC quoted him as telling Hollywood Reporter.

"We by no means are trying to fill the shoes of the incredible Potter franchise for 2008. Rather, we are just looking to bring the fans of Stephenie Meyer's incredible book series the film series as soon possible," he added.

His comments were backed by Meyer, who posted a statement on her website insisting that neither she nor Summit had anything to do with the change to the Harry Potter schedule.

ANI