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Hat trick for Harry Potter kids
23/10/2002 10:06 - (SA)
Larry Fine
New York - The young stars of the blockbuster Harry Potter films will probably call it quits after the third instalment of the series, director Chris Columbus said on Tuesday.
"If I were a betting man I'd say they'll probably stop after three," Columbus said about 12-year-old Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and his sidekicks Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley).
The talented young trio, who starred in last year's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - the second highest grossing movie of all time after Titanic - reprise their roles in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which opens on November 15.
The movie was titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone outside the United States.
The Britons will portray the youthful wizards again in the film of the third book of J.K. Rowling's phenomenally successful series, The Prisoner of Azkaban, which begins filming in March and is expected to be released in June 2004.
Columbus, who directed the first two Potter movies, decided against directing the third, saying he was worn out and wanted to spend more time with his family. He will still be on the set daily as producer of the next Potter film.
Columbus praised the young stars, but said they might be ready for a break after the rigors of doing three major movies in quick succession.
"If they ask my opinion, my advice would be to go back to being kids," said Columbus, whose film version of Sorcerer's Stone grossed more than $965 million.
Rowling has written four Potter books with the fifth of her planned seven-volume series expected to be published next year. The first four Potter books, published by Bloomsbury in Britain and Scholastic in the United States, have sold 175 million copies worldwide.
Asked about his future plans regarding playing the bespectacled Potter, Radcliffe told a news conference on Tuesday, "We're all definitely doing the third film. After that, who knows?"
- Reuters
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