It should come as no real surprise, but this fall’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released in IMAX theatres along with the regular-old screens at your local multiplex. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix did the same thing last summer, and as we all remember, made a boatload of cash in the process. The IMAX press release, over at ComingSoon.net, also talks about the plans for The Dark Knight in IMAX.

The really intriguing thing though, is the promise that sections of the next Harry Potter, like the most recent film, will be in 3D. I didn’t see Order of the Phoenix in IMAX 3D, but I can imagine all those shooting spells and the whole Ministry of Magic scene looked amazing when it was coming right at you. Half-Blood Prince, of course, has a spectacular fight scene at the end as well, with even more jets of light shooting from wands and reanimated dead crawling out of a pond to chase Harry. While I’m not exactly keen to see Dumbledore falling off the tower and INTO MY FACE, I can see how 3D could make that scene just as intense to experience as it was in the book.

Like it or not, the simultaneous release of a big-budget movie on regular screens and on IMAX are probably part of the future from now on. For the most part, it works; seeing Spider-Man 3 on IMAX definitely heightened the experience, even though the front-row seats made keeping track of the action a little like watching a tennis match. A word to theatre exhibitors, though: stop putting movies not made for IMAX on IMAX screens. Seeing No Country for Old Men on a screen twice the size it was meant to be shown on was annoying, and pointless.

You know what’s not annoying and pointless, though? The next Harry Potter movie. Why do we have to wait until November again?