A year later Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , the second installment of the series . Reviewers were positive about the lead actors ' performances but had polarised opinions on the movie as a whole . The 2004 release Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was the third film in the series . Radcliffe 's performance was panned by New York Times journalist A. O. Scott , who wrote that Watson had to carry him with her performance . Next was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005 . The film was the second @-@ highest grossing Harry Potter film at that point , and Radcliffe singled out the humour as being a reason for the movie 's creative success .