Fiennes named as Potter villain

Ralph Fiennes' film credits include Red Dragon and Schindler's List

British actor Ralph Fiennes has won the role of wicked wizard Lord Voldemort in the next Harry Potter film.

Filming has already begun on the fourth instalment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire but Fiennes, 41, has not shot any of his scenes yet.

In the first three films, only Voldemort's spirit has been visible, but he returns in the flesh for the first time in the fourth movie.

Miranda Richardson will play journalist Rita Skeeter in the 2005 release.

Daniel Radcliffe returns as the boy wizard Harry Potter, along with co-stars Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who play his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Dark arts

Brendan Gleeson, who stars in Troy, Cold Mountain and the forthcoming M Night Shyamalan film The Village, has been cast as Potter's new defence against the dark arts teacher, Mad-Eye Moody.

Katie Leung will play Potter's love interest, Cho Chang.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is being directed by Mike Newell, who also directed hit comedy Four Weddings and A Funeral.

US and Canadian box office takings passed the $1bn (£545m) mark for the first time in June, led by the success of the third Harry Potter film, according to trade magazine Hollywood Reporter.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban topped the North American box office for the month by a wide margin, taking $217.2m (£118m).

Author JK Rowling recently revealed the title of the sixth book in the Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.