Second Harry Potter film starts fast

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" got off to a fast start at the box-office in November. Fans paid nearly $88 million in the first weekend, Nov. 15-17.

This second Harry Potter movie took in more box-office money than the other nine films in the Top 10 combined that weekend. The second-place movie, "8 Mile," was over $65 million behind. It collected $21.33 million in box-office receipts.

You'll remember the first Harry Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," was the leader in theater receipts in 2001. Before its theater run was over, the movie took in $317 million in the U.S. and another $647 million elsewhere in the world.

That's nearly $1 billion dollars in theater tickets for that one movie.

Filming on the third Harry Potter film already is underway in England. But, there's one big question mark about the cast for that third movie.

Who will play Dumbledore, the kindly but wise headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft?

Academy-award winning Richard Harris played the role in the first two movies. Then, he died after the filming on the second movie was done.

Reporter Robert W. Butler of the Kansas City (Mo.) Star newspaper wrote an article last month about the problem. He listed his 10 suggestions for Harris' successor.

Butler's list included both American and foreign actors. The writer listed the strengths and weaknesses of all 10. Then, he said finding the right replacement is going to be tough.

Ironically, one of the actors on Butler's list is already gone. Actor James Colburn died last month at age 74.

The best-known actors on Butler's list were:

• Sean Connery, the original James Bond;
• Clint Eastwood, famous for his roles in both American and foreign western movies;
• Willie Nelson, the folk singer;
• Paul Newman, another famous American actor;
• James Earl Jones, the African-American actor;
  
  
• Lesser-known foreign actors listed were Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen and Ian Holm.

He even mentioned a woman, Judi Dench, who has done a lot of English roles in films. But, Butler said the young Harry Potter audience might not take to a woman in the Dumbledore role.

After all, author J.K. Rowling had the headmaster as a man in her Harry Potter books. And we know she likes the movies to follow the books closely.

(Young Saint Louis.com included an exclusive movie review of the new "Chamber" film in the November edition. However, since the review didn't get on the site until mid-November, we're repeating it in this December edition. To read the review, click here.)