Stars gather for Potter première

Kenneth Branagh meets the crowds

The long-awaited new Harry Potter film is having its world première at a London cinema on Sunday.

The film opens on 15 November

Thousands of young fans, some dressed as the boy wizard, gathered outside the Odeon in Leicester Square to glimpse the movie's stars and other famous faces.

Many queued for hours, chanting as they waited for the guests to turn up.

But they will have to wait longer to see the film - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets does not go on general release until 15 November.

Zoe Algar and Laura Hall, both 16, from Great Yarmouth, arrived six hours before the stars were due to greet fans.

Wearing witches hats and carrying a toy spider, they were waiting for Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry.

Jessica Price, 12, from Iver, Buckinghamshire, was taken to Leicester Square by her father, Tony.

JK Rowling is currently working on the fifth Potter novel

"I'm the one who introduced her to the books, so I like them as well," he said.

And 21-year-old Sarah Isaacs, from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, said she went to see Rupert Grint, who plays Harry's friend Ron.

The première marks a year since the first cinema adaptation of JK Rowling's book series - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - made its debut on the big screen.

Last year's world première of the first film, at the same venue, was attended by the show's star actor Radcliffe along with director Chris Columbus, author Rowling and a number of the cast.

They include Dame Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and Kenneth Branagh making his Potter debut as Gilderoy Lockhart, the school's new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Absent from this year's line-up will be Richard Harris - Professor Albus Dumbledore in the film - who died from cancer last week, aged 72.

Last year's première also attracted a string of stars from the world of entertainment including Cher, Jerry Hall, Sting, Cate Blanchett, Sophie Dahl, Ben Stiller, Jonathan Ross and Natalie Appleton.

Within three months of the first Harry Potter movie opening around the world, it had become the second-highest grossing film of all time behind Titanic.

It made $961m (£618m), out-performing its rival The Lord of the Rings by more than $100m ($64m).

Tickets for the new Potter film went on sale at the start of October, seven weeks before its opening dates.

Charity

The movie is said to be darker and more scary than its predecessor, with Harry spending his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry battling a sinister force.

Rowling recently auctioned a walk-on part in the next Potter movie for £10,000 at a charity Halloween ball.

The banquet, at Stirling Castle, Scotland, raised a total of £275,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland.

Other items sold included a studio tour in Los Angeles and a holiday on a private island in the West Indies.