FACTBOX: Sixth Harry Potter movie set for release

(Reuters) - The sixth film in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", opens in theatres on July 15. It is based on the novel by J.K. Rowling.

The film is directed by David Yates, who also directed the 2007 blockbuster "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix".

Following are some facts about the Harry Potter films and the novels they are based on:

THE MOVIES:

* The most recent Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," opened in July 2007 and grossed $77.1 million in its first five days, eventually ringing up $292 million in North America.

-- In Britain the movie grossed over 49 million pounds, making it the top UK box office performer in 2007.

* Warner Bros. have distributed five Harry Potter movies, amassing a worldwide box office tally of $4.5 billion. After "Half-Blood Prince", there are two more to come, with the last of the seven Potter books being divided into two movies.

* Daniel Radcliffe, who played the central role of Harry throughout the film series, once again heads the cast in Half-Blood Prince. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise their roles as young wizards Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who along with Harry, are facing new challenges and dangers following Lord Voldemort's return.

THE NOVELS:

* J.K. Rowling completed the manuscript of her first Harry Potter story, called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", in 1995, having written some of it in local cafes in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she was an unemployed mother living on benefits.

* After being rejected by a series of publishers, Barry Cunningham, then of Bloomsbury publishers, signed up Rowling and the author and company never looked back. Rowling is known as the world's first billion-dollar author.

* She has sold 400 million copies of her Harry Potter series about young wizard Potter, his adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and his battles with the evil Voldemort.

(Additional writing by Jijo Jacob, Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by David Cutler)