Warner Bros have released the first picture from the upcoming sixth Harry Potter Movie, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". It features Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) holding a book in his hands.



The previous movie (which was the fifth of the series) featured Harry's fifth year in school during which the Ministry of Magic had gone into a state of denial and steadfastly refused to acknowledge the return of Lord Voldemort during the entire year. It was only when Lord Voldemort made an audacious appearance within The Ministry of Magic premises towards the end of the movie that they were finally forced to acknowledge his return.

In the new film (which will be the sixth of the series), Harry Potter (Radcliffe) begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lord Voldemort and his followers are now out in the open blackmailing the Minister of Magic with the threat of mass murder of the Muggle population asking him to move aside and make way for Lord Voldemort to seize power.

At school, Harry accidentally comes across an old Potions textbook mysteriously marked, "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince". Harry excels at potion making in class using the techniques described in the enigmatic textbook.

During the course of the year, Harry learns more about Lord Voldemort's dark past and his Horcruxes through Dumbledore and the new Potions teacher who has been called back from retirement. The teacher in question is Horace Slughorn, a new character introduced to the story for the first time in Harry Potter Book 6. Dumbledore rightly suspects that Slughorn holds crucial information about Lord Voldemort's horcruxes.

Romance is also in the air as Harry finally pairs up with Ginny Weasley and Ron pairs up temporarily with Lavender Brown much to the jealousy of Hermione.

Draco Malfoy perfects his plan to inflict the greatest tragedy of the story.

David Yates, who last directed "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix," returns for the sixth movie. Yates comes to the films from television and is a veteran of such well-regarded BBC productions as "State of Play" and also "The Girl in the Café".

Steve Kloves, who wrote the screenplay for the first four movies but opted out of the fifth movie returns as the scriptwriter for the sixth movie.

Notable new members of the cast include Jim Broadbent, an English actor from films, television and theatre. He is a winner of Academy, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards. Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Frank Dillane play Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort, at age eleven and as a teenager respectively.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is scheduled to hit theaters on November 21st, 2008.