'Winnie the Pooh's' Craig Ferguson: Bring it on, 'Harry Potter'

Craig Ferguson isn't afraid of Harry Potter.

The host of CBS' weeknight "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" supplies the voice of Owl in Disney's new, animated "Winnie the Pooh" feature film that arrives in theaters Friday (July 15) ... the same day the series-ending, guaranteed box-office juggernaut "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" opens.

"I don't think it's the same audience," Ferguson tells Zap2it. "Just because someone makes something doesn't mean you don't make something. Just because the Dallas Cowboys play football doesn't mean the local team doesn't play football as well. It's OK."

Also heard last year in the animated "How to Train Your Dragon" -- and slated to reprise his role in a sequel -- Ferguson is promoting "Winnie the Pooh" on the heels of returning from Paris, where he shot a week of "Late Late Show" episodes that begin airing Monday, Aug, 1. While he hopes for solid profits for "Pooh," he has no illusions that it will match a certain boy wizard dollar-for-dollar.

"The 'Harry Potter' thing is a monster, and deservedly so," Ferguson reasons. "It's fantastic. I'm right at the stage where I'm reading the books and seeing the movies with my oldest boy, so I really love that franchise. 'Winnie the Pooh' is really for young kids, and the last `Harry Potter' movie isn't. They're different things."