David Yates directed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and now it looks like he's locked into direct Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

He confirmed that very fact in an interview where he said:

"I am doing Half-Blood Prince, and I'm doing it because I love the world, I love the characters...I think I have more business with this world and these characters...

...I've made a kind of tonal shift with the fifth film, which I want to continue and develop into the sixth film...And I can see the fifth story evolving into the sixth story in a really interesting way. So I'm on a journey with this material and this world, and I'm keen to complete it."

The quote comes from SciFi Wire and is rapidly spreading across the entire Interwebby, but these guys scored it first.

I think this is good. Keeping a common vision throughout the films shouldn't just be down to the creative talent behind the original story, I do think that a strong Director can do a lot more with a franchise if they are kept on board. Changing the Director can result in radical differences to a film, even if the characters and the universe they are in are the same, and that's something we've already seen in the series.

Is this really a good choice, or is it difficult to tell without having seen Order of the Phoenix?