Warner Bros.’ surprise decision last week to move Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from November to next July caused quite a stir. Fans were upset. Entertainment Weekly was embarrassed. The only people not bothered seemed to be the Twilight crowd, who benefited in the release date jumble when their anticipated adaptation moved up its opening to fill the vacancy.

But why did the studio suddenly push back its major fall tent pole? Especially after receiving such favorable buzz surrounding its recently unveiled teaser trailer? Warner’s official statement seemed little more than a “just because” stance. So, ever the skeptic and speculator, I’ve compiled this list of more likely excuses:

10. Equus - My first thought after hearing the news was that Harry Potter’s penis was the cause. And I guess I think like Roger Friedman, who is claiming it’s the truth. Of course, unlike Friedman, I don’t really believe there’s any relation between the date change and the fact that Radcliffe will still be appearing nude on Broadway through the fall movie season (Equus runs from September 25 to February 8). If anything, I think it’d help the release of Half-Blood — what vacationing family in NYC wouldn’t want to make it a double feature over Thanksgiving weekend? First watch your kid march in the Macy’s parade, then head over to the Broadhurst Theatre to see Potter’s wand, and finish up the day with a movie screening at the Ziegfeld. OK, so families are apparently more interested in the Billy Elliot musical. And according to a quote in the new EW, Potter fans might be able to hold out for a nude Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2.

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Thus concludes our coverage of the 2008 Comic-Con International. If you missed anything, here it all is:

• Porn on the floor
• Jabba the Hutt
• Hoverboard for sale
• LEGO Batman
• Star Wars stamps
• Guy Ritchie’s comic book
• Pineapple Express and a brief history of stoner films
• Max Payne/Wolverine
• Twilight
• Red Sonja
• Nerd Barbies
• Tron 2
• Scream Like a Girl, hosted by Kevin Smith
• RocknRolla panel
• Guy Ritchie press conference
• Fanboys
• Watchmen
• The Wolfman
• Dr. Horrible (including sequel info)
• The Spirit
• Keifer Sutherland and Mirrors
• Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, Zach Snyder, Frank Miller
• Watchmen: Dave Gibbons on Alan Moore
• Terminator Salvation
• Disney/Pixar
• Heath Ledger, the bobblehead
• Mummy 3, Death Race, Land of the Lost, Drag Me To Hell, Evil Dead
• Pineapple Express, Underworld, Quarantine
• Harold and Kumar
• Wes Craven and David Boyer
• Nightmare on Elm Street Part 209
• Hamlet 2
• Terminator Salvation press conference
• Troma at Comic-Con, Toxie in Iraq
• Interview with Gil Kenan, director of City of Ember
• Girls at Comic-Con
• Tropic Thunder
• Where was Star Trek?

When I first went to Comic-Con, almost a decade ago, it was purely as a girlfriend. My then-love interest and I had gone to our respective home towns for the summer, and one day he called and asked for my measurements––he was making me an Uhura dress.

I understood then that part of my job at Comic-Con was partially to avoid saying anything too cynical or aggressive to his friends from back home (including the girlfriend of his best friend, who went every year in full Slave Leia regalia). But mainly, my job was to look good. I was young, and I went along with it because I was flattered that anyone would actually want to put me on display. Still, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, and if memory serves, I wasn’t very good at it. I am a girl of varied talents, but that summer I learned that being passive, high-concept arm candy doesn’t make use of any of them.

Which is not to say that I had a terrible time; when we got to San Diego, I ditched the boyfriend and found my own niche. I remember there being a fair number of a girlfriends, floating around at various levels of excitement or reluctance, but there were also women who were there because they were active members of one of the communities represented, either as educated consumers or as makers, or both, and across generations, they seemed to be talking to one another. My memory could be fuzzy, but I don’t remember a single booth babe. I do remember a lot of preteens in Sailor Moon suits, but that’s another matter.

But blah, blah, blah — times change. From 2000 to 2007, Comic-Con attendance tripled. Studios started to swoop in in earnest around 2001, after X-Men and the ascendancy of sites like Ain’t it Cool taught them the power of the permanent adolescent male market. As long as we’re on the subject of adolescence, if my experience at Comic-Con 2008 is any indication, the options for young girls here have, on the surface, become quite a bit more varied than the either/or between mannequin and active consumer/producer; at the same time, most of these new options seem to amount to little more than one side of that old binary split.

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Wes Craven will present footage from his upcoming 25/8, and director David Goyer will unveil details on The Unborn.

Highlights: Not applicable. Oh, okay…there was some stuff about insects chewing on a girl from Cloverfield’s boobs. Full transcript after the jump!

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The first ever Summit Pictures Comic-Con panel, which was met with snores up until the Twilight segment began, and then really began amidst continuous Beatlemania-like screaming from fangirls. Oh, and we learned a few new things about Alex Proyas’ Knowing and Paul McGuigan’s Push.

Highlights:

• The Twilight actors are really into themselves.
• Robert Pattinson is one of the most wanted guys in the world.
• Robert Pattinson’s band might be providing a tune to the Twilight soundtrack.
• Nic Cage is in another movie about a foreseen disaster (Knowing).
• Alex Proyas is not directing The Silver Surfer.
• Dakota Fanning was the surprise guest (really she was just late), and she’s all grown up.

Read the liveblogging transcript after the jump.

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Yes, I could have embedded the cool new Watchmen trailer, but the YouTube clips I saw just didn’t do the visuals justice (watch it on Apple.com instead). And sure, I could have shared the long-awaited Twilight trailer, but it doesn’t actually look all that appealing — I know the books are popular, but the adaptation just looks like The Lost Boys meets Dawson’s Creek (if you must, view it on Yahoo!). Anyway, I’m sure you’re seeing The Dark Knight this weekend (unless you have a really lame excuse not to), so you’ll likely see both those trailers, as well as the one for Terminator Salvation, ahead of the film.

So, here’s something better, or at least cuter. It’s also very, very silly. Almost to the point of not being worth its time. Fortunately, that Bat-kid riding around on his Bat-tricycle is a real gem. And the outtake at the end with him running after the junior Joker is even more precious. I’m a sucker for anything involving little kids and movies (unless it’s little kids at the movies or, often, little kids in the movies), in case you couldn’t tell from that Star Wars review I embedded awhile back (and yet, no, I still haven’t seen either Son of Rambow or the kid-made remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark).

For more with kids and Batman costumes, also check out this video, which, if a comment made on this week’s Project Runway premiere is true, might actually be of Heidi Klum’s son. And for more videos made by the people who made the one above, check out Wizard Universe.

[via IMDB]

• Over the weekend, a few critic groups united in naming No Country for Old Men the best movie of 2007. St. Louis, Utah and Florida all love the Coen Bros. movie, as well as Ellen Page, Amy Ryan, Daniel Day-Lewis and Ratatouille. They managed to mix it up a little bit, though, so as not to be completely identical/redundant/unnecessary. I’d give the most hugs to the gang in Utah for honoring The King of Kong if only they hadn’t disappointed me with their choice for best actress runner-up: Amy Adams. If I was booked to attend that little film festival of theirs next month, I’d totally change my mind and boycott. People just don’t know the lengths I’ll go to complain about this Enchanted kudos crap.
• Not surprisingly, National Treasure: Book of Secrets topped the holiday weekend box office with $65 million. I would have gone to see it, but instead I hung out at JFK airport for hours on end Sunday night and watched parts of Con Air on my iPod. I’ve decided that Nic Cage is a lot better suited for the small-small screen. Too bad such a strong opening means he won’t be making direct-to-iPod movies any time soon. 
• Perhaps this is a sign that studios will stop trying to find “the next Harry Potter franchise” and begin trying to find “the next I Am Legend.”: Potter actor Robert Pattinson (”Cedric Diggory”) will star opposite Kristen Stewart in Catherine Hardwicke’s teen vampire flick, Twilight. Too bad the Hollywood Reporter already gave us this story two weeks ago; too bad vampire movies have already been a monstrous trend in Hollywood; and too bad studios will never stop looking for “the next Harry Potter franchise.”