Actor Radcliffe signs for final two Potter films

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) British actor Daniel Radcliffe has signed up for the final two films in the seven-part Harry Potter series, his spokeswoman said.

The 17-year-old, who has just won rave reviews for his performance in Peter Shaffer's controversial play ''Equus'', will start filming the sixth movie based on the bestselling books by J K Rowling in September, she said yesterday.

Radcliffe shot to fame in 2001 when he appeared as the boy wizard in the first Harry Potter film.

The hit franchise, which continues with the fifth instalment called ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' later this year, has amassed around 3.5 billion dollar globally at the box office and turned the teenager into a multi-millionaire.

Rowling recently announced that the seventh and final book in the series, called ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' will be published on July 21, but it is not clear when the film version will be made.

The first six books have sold in excess of 325 million copies worldwide.

Movie commentators had wondered if Radcliffe could sustain the role of Potter throughout the film franchise, and whether the raunchy publicity shots of Radcliffe for ''Equus'' would alienate him from his core fan base.

REUTERS PDM ND0900