Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)

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Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban theatrical poster
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Produced by Chris Columbus
David Heyman
Mark Radcliffe
Written by Novel:
J. K. Rowling
Screenplay:
Steven Kloves
Starring Daniel Radcliffe
Rupert Grint
Emma Watson
Michael Gambon
Gary Oldman
David Thewlis
Timothy Spall
Emma Thompson
Music by John Williams
Cinematography Michael Seresin
Editing by Steven Weisberg
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) Flag of the United Kingdom May 31, 2004
Flag of the United States June 4, 2004
Running time 142 min.
Country Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $130 million
Gross revenue $795,541,069
Preceded by Chamber of Secrets
Followed by Goblet of Fire
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a 2004 fantasy adventure film, based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, it is the third film in the popular Harry Potter films series. It stars Daniel Radcliffe as the teenage wizard Harry Potter, and Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Gary Oldman and David Thewlis joined the cast as the new characters Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. In this movie, the role of Albus Dumbledore was played by Michael Gambon who took over from the late Richard Harris who died of Hodgkin's disease. Steve Kloves returned as screenwriter, while Chris Columbus (the director of the previous two films) became a producer, alongside David Heyman. The film was released on May 31, 2004 in the UK and on June 4, 2004 in the US.

It was nominated for two Academy Awards; Academy Award for Original Music Score and Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Contents

See also: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter is, as usual, spending his summer at the Dursley's house. Uncle Vernon's sister Marge arrives for a visit and at dinner time viciously insults Harry and his parents. Harry's anger and unconscious magical powers cause her to inflate and float away. Expecting to have been expelled from Hogwarts for using magic outside of school, Harry flees. Suddenly, the Knight Bus appears and takes Harry to the Leaky Cauldron. There, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge tells Harry he will not be expelled. Harry learns that Sirius Black, who is said to be a supporter of Lord Voldemort, has escaped from Azkaban. He is also informed by Arthur Weasley that Black will likely come after him.

Harry journeys to Hogwarts with his best friends Ron and Hermione; they are now entering their third year. On the train they share a compartment with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, who is sleeping when they enter the compartment. Abruptly, the Hogwarts Express is stopped and a Dementor boards, searching for Black. The creature has a profound effect on Harry, causing him to faint. Lupin awakens and repels the Dementor. At school, Albus Dumbledore informs the Hogwarts students that because Black is at large, Dementors have been set up around the school as a protection. In addition to Lupin's appointment, Hagrid is announced as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. As lessons begin, Hermione frequently arrives at their various classes by appearing out of nowhere. Lupin's lessons prove enjoyable,; he teaches useful spells and helps less confident students like Neville. However Hagrid's class does not go to plan; on the first day, Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes the Hippogriff Buckbeak into attacking him. His father successfully has Buckbeak sentenced to death.

During a Quidditch match, several Dementors approach Harry, causing him to fall off his broomstick; Dumbledore slows his descent. Harry then decides to learn how to fight the Dementors. Lupin teaches him to cast a spell conjuring a Patronus to repel will repel a Dementor. A Patronus is the opposite of a Dementor which breeds on unhappy thoughts and bad memories. The happier the thought used to cast the spell, the more powerful the Patronus. After several tries, Harry manages to create a Patronus. Later, Harry attempts to sneak to Hogsmeade without permission, but is caught by Fred and George, who give him the Marauder's Map so that he can enter the village through a secret passage. At Hogsmeade, Harry overhears that Black was his godfather and his parents' best friend. Black is said to have divulged the Potters' secret whereabouts to Voldemort and murdered their mutual friend Peter Pettigrew. Harry vows to kill Black, but is later astonished when he sees Pettigrew's name on the map.

In Divination class, Professor Trelawney enters a trance and predicts that the Dark Lord's servant will return to Harry that night. Harry, Ron and Hermione visit Hagrid to console him over Buckbeak's impending execution. While there, Ron discovers his rat, Scabbers, which had disappeared earlier in the year. While trio is chasing Scabbers, a large dog drags both Ron and and the rat into a hole at the base of the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione follow, finding a tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. The dog is revealed to be the Animagus of Sirius Black. Lupin arrives as well and upon seeing Scabbers embraces Sirius as an old friend. After being confronted by Hermione, Lupin admits to being a werewolf. Snape appears, planning to catch Black and Lupin and hand them over to the Dementors, but is knocked out by Harry. Lupin and Black explain that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. Everything that Black is accused was actually Pettigrew and the pair force Pettigrew back into his human form. Lupin and Sirius prepare to kill Pettigrew but are stopped by Harry, who tells them that it was not what James would have done. As the group head back to the castle the full moon rises, causing Lupin to transform and Pettigrew to escape. Lupin and Sirius fight in their animal forms, until Lupin is distracted, and Sirius and Harry are attacked by Dementors. As Sirius is about to have his soul removed, Harry sees a figure in the distance cast a powerful stag-shaped Patronus, scattering the dementors and saving their lives.

Hermione reveals that she possesses a time-turner, which is how she has been taking multiple classes at once. She and Harry travel back in time three hours, watching themselves go through the night's events. They set Buckbeak free and return to the Whomping Willow. As the Dementors are about to attack the "other" Harry and Sirius, Harry realizes that the person he saw was actually him and casts the Patronus. Harry and Hermione rescue a captured Sirius and give him Buckbeak to escape on, as time equals out again. At the end of the year, Lupin resigns, knowing that people will not allow a werewolf to teach their children. Later, Sirius sends Harry a Firebolt, an extremely fast racing broom.

Further information: List of Harry Potter films cast members

The score was composed and conducted by John Williams and released on CD on May 25, 2004. In general his music for this third film is less lyrical and more sombre (and at times more frightening) than that of the previous films. Other than brief quotes of "Hedwig's Theme" and the "Broomstick" theme, Williams' score also consists of entirely new themes.

Alfonso Cuarón was named as director, replacing Chris Columbus who had helmed the previous two films. Cuarón's appointment pleased J. K. Rowling who loved his film Y Tu Mamá También and was impressed with his adaptation of A Little Princess.[1] Kenneth Branagh, who appeared in the previous film as Gilderoy Lockhart was considered as a director.[2]

Some of the sets for the film were built in Glen Coe, Scotland, near to the Clachaig Inn. The indoor sets, including sets built for the previous two films, are mainly in Leavesden Film Studios. The Hogwarts lake was filmed from Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. Incidentally, the train bridge which was also featured in the Chamber of Secrets movie is opposite Loch Shiel and was used to film the sequences when the Dementor arrived on the train. A small section of the triple-decker bus scene, where it weaves in between many different cars, was filmed in Palmers Green in North London. Some parts were also filmed in and around Borough Market and Lambeth Bridge in London.

The set of Honeydukes seen in this film is a redress of the set of Flourish and Blotts seen in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which, in turn, was a redress of the set of Ollivander's from the first film.

Cuarón originally wanted to move away from CGI toward puppetry, and worked with master puppeteer Basil Twist, particularly on the depiction of the Dementors. Once it became apparent that puppetry would be too expensive and unable to portray the specific elements of the Dementors, Cuarón turned to CGI; however, he and his team did use footage of Dementor puppets underwater as a basis for the flowing movements of the computer-generated Dementors.

The Knight Bus segment when Harry is being taken to The Leaky Cauldron uses the film technique known as bullet time, popularised in The Matrix series of films. This segment takes humorous advantage of the magic quality of the Harry Potter world by having the Muggle world go into bullet time while inside the Knight Bus, Harry, Stan Shunpike and Ernie Prang (and the talking shrunken head) keep moving in real time.

David Thewlis, who has previously auditioned for the role of Professor Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was Cuarón's first choice for the role of Remus Lupin. He accepted the role on advice from Ian Hart, the man who was cast as Quirrell, who told him that Lupin was "the best part in the book."[3]

Musician Ian Brown makes a cameo appearance as a wizard in The Leaky Cauldron reading A Brief History of Time.

Rowling said she "got goosebumps" when she saw several moments in the film, as they inadvertently referred to events in the final two books, she stated "people are going to look back on the film and think that those were put in deliberately as clues."[1]

The film achieved extremely positive reviews, garnering an 89% "Certified Fresh" with a 90% "Cream of the Crop" ranking at Rotten Tomatoes[4] and a score of 81 out of 100 at Metacritic garnering "universal acclaim".[5] Peter Travers from the Rolling Stone gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars: "Not only is this dazzler by far the best and most thrilling of the three Harry Potter movies to date, it's a film that can stand on its own even if you never heard of author J.K. Rowling and her young wizard hero."[6] The Hollywood Reporter called the film "a deeper, darker, visually arresting and more emotionally satisfying adaptation of the J.K. Rowling literary phenomenon", especially compared to the first two instalments.[7] Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars saying, unlike most critics, that the film "is not quite as good as the first two", but still called it "a delightful, amusing and sophisticated installment".[8] Claudia Puig from USA Today praised the film as "a visual delight",[9] while Richard Roeper called the film "a creative triumph".[10] Sean Smith from Newsweek said: "The Prisoner of Azkaban boasts a brand-new director and a bold new vision", he also called the film "moving", praising the performances by Radcliffe and Watson,[11] while Entertainment Weekly praised the film for being more mature than its predecessors.[12] Some negative criticism came from The Washington Post: "Put delicately, this is one long sit, made all the more so by a turgid story, a dour visual palette and uninspiring action".[13]

The film opened in the United Kingdom on May 31 and on June 4 in the United States. It broke numerous records upon its worldwide release. It broke the record for biggest single day in U.K. box office history making £5.3 million on a Monday.[14] It went on to break records both with and without previews making a stuning £23.9 million including previews[15] and £9.3 million excluding them.[16] The film made $93.7 million during its opening weekend in the U.S. achieving the third biggest opening weekend of all time.[17] It went on to make £46.1 million in the U.K.[18]

The Prisoner of Azkaban made a total of $795.5 million worldwide,[19] which made it the second highest-grossing film of 2004 behind only Shrek 2.[20] In the U.S. it was only the sixth highest-grossing film of the year making $249.5 million.[21] Everywhere else in the world, however, it was the number one film of the year, making $546 million compared to Shrek 2's $478.6 million.[22] Despite its successful box office run, Azkaban is currently the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film (all the other Harry Potter films have grossed more than US $875 million worldwide). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is currently the 19th highest grossing film in history.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was nominated in the 77th Academy Awards held in 2005 for two Oscars.

Prisoner of Azkaban was, at the time of publication, the longest book in the series. The increasing plot complexity necessitated a looser adaptation of the book's finer plot lines and backstory. The connection between Harry's parents and the Marauder's map is only briefly mentioned,[23] as is Remus Lupin's association to both the map and James Potter.[24] Some exposition was removed for dramatic effect: both the Shrieking Shack and Scabbers the rat are mentioned only very briefly in the film adaptation, while they receive a more thorough coverage in the novel.[23] Most of the backstory of Sirius Black is also cut, with no mention of the manner of his escape from Azkaban, his abilities as an Animagus, or the origin of the Firebolt he sends Harry.[24]

On account of pace and time considerations, the film glosses over detailed descriptions of magical education. Only one Hippogriff , Buckbeak, is seen, and only Malfoy and Harry are seen interacting with the Hippogriff during Care of Magical Creatures lessons, and most other lessons, including all of Snape's potions classes, were cut from the film.[23] The complicated description of the Fidelius Charm is removed entirely from the film adaptation, with no explanation given of exactly how Black betrayed the Potters to Lord Voldemort. Many of the lines in this scene are redistributed amongst Cornelius Fudge and Minerva McGonagall; in compensation, McGonagall's exposition of the Animagus transformation is instead given by Snape.[23]

Many other sequences in the film were modified from the literary counterparts to increase pace and tension. The Time-Turner sequence in particular is extended and restructured; while in the novel Harry and Hermione take great care to avoid disrupting the timeline of events, in the film version they do so several times, both accidentally and deliberately. At one point, Hermione is nearly revealed to her prior self whilst commenting on the state of her hair; at another, the pair prompt their prior selves to escape discovery by throwing stones at themselves through the window of Hagrid's hut. The embryonic romantic connection between Ron and Hermione is more prominent in the film adaptation than the original book; in response to criticism of the first two films for sacrificing character development for mystery and adventure, the emotional development of all three lead characters is given more attention in the third film.[23] That said, any mention of the beginnings of Harry's crush on Cho Chang is removed.[25] The darker side of Harry, first seen in Order of the Phoenix is glimpsed in this film, when Harry proclaims, "I hope [Black] finds me. When he does, I'll be ready. When he does, I'll kill him".[23]

 This section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (April 2007)

The third film departed from several conventions set in the first two movies, and had several stylistic changes. This is mostly due to the introduction of a new director to the series, but may also be explained by the fact that the third book of the series was significantly longer than the previous two books, and the director was given more freedom to adapt the book in the interest of screening time. Overall, this film is more than ten minutes shorter than each of the other films in the series.

All the Harry Potter books contain scenes relating to the mystery/adventure aspect of the stories along with emotional scenes designed to explore the characters. The first two films had a tendency to focus mainly on the mystery/adventure aspect, leaving out most of the emotional scenes, which inevitably bred criticisms of a lack of character development and related issues.

In the third film, the paradigm was reversed with more emphasis on Harry's angst than on the plot mechanics and literal faithfulness to the narrative. Some felt that this created a murky plotline, but most film critics and many fans were more than pleased with these changes, believing it made the film stronger and the characters more interesting and believable than the two previous.

The Harry Potter films are not considered canon, however the landscape and layout of Hogwarts has changed since prior films. The changes noticeable in this film include:

  • The addition of "Clock Tower" (A similar tower can be spotted in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in the spot the clock tower would be, but the tower is missing the clock itself).
  • The Fat Lady's portrait (in addition to being completely different than the one in the first two films) now resides in the room with moving staircases, while in the first two films, the Fat Lady's portrait was at the end of a long hallway. This change causes several mistakes/problems. The common room is meant to be in a tower, which means that its entrance cannot be direct from the stairs. As well as this, the entrances are meant to be secret, ie only people from Gyrfindor house should know where the portrait is.
  • Hagrid's hut is now larger, much farther from the school and is surrounded by hills.
  • The Whomping Willow is now located on a hilltop at some distance from Hogwarts.
  • A large wooden bridge now exists, which was not mentioned in the books and did not appear in the previous films, which leads to Hagrid's hut and the Whomping Willow.
  • Tom the bartender in the Leaky Cauldron is different from Tom in the first film.
  • Professor Flitwick has dyed and cut his hair and now wears glasses.
  • Albus Dumbledore, due to Richard Harris's death, is portrayed by a new actor.
  • The spells make a shrill high-pitched noise when they are cast. In the previous two films, the noises spells made varied or didn't make one.
  • Student uniforms have been redesigned somewhat from their portrayal in the first two films, most noticeably in House neckties and scarves. While both previously featured House colors in equal-width stripes, neckties now feature one background color with an alternating pattern of two thick stripes and one thin stripe of a foreground color, and house scarves feature thinner foreground stripes in groups of two over the background. More subtly, the lining of student robes has changed from black to house colors (identical to the background color on ties and scarves), while house sweaters are a darker shade of gray and only have house stripes along the waistband and cuffs (in previous films, these were around the collar as well); later films also introduce cardigan and vest varieties. The Gryffindor logo on their uniforms has also changed, the Lion is now in a silver colour rather than Gold as in the previous two movies.
  • The wands differ from those shown in the first two films. Hermione's wand is now 15 inches long, with vine carvings. Harry's now 14 -inch wand is the most changed; the handle appears to be made from a tree branch with bark while the shaft appears to be not polished but rough.

  1. ^ a b Claudia Puig. "New 'Potter' movie sneaks in spoilers for upcoming books", USA Today, 2004-05-27. Retrieved on 2007-08-29. 
  2. ^ Adler. "Kenneth Branagh Hoped To Call Harry Potter A Son", MTV, 2007-11-19. Retrieved on 2007-11-20. 
  3. ^ Clint Morris (2004-06-09). Interview : David Thewlis. Movie Hole. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
  4. ^ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
  5. ^ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  6. ^ "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", Newsround, 2004-05-27. Retrieved on 2007-09-21. 
  7. ^ Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban. Hollywood Reporter (2004-05-28). Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  8. ^ Roger Ebert. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", Chicago Sun Times, 2004-06-03. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 
  9. ^ Claudia Puig. "'Azkaban' wizard Cuaron casts an artful spell", USA Today, 2004-06-03. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 
  10. ^ Richard Roeper. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", Ebert & Roeper, 2004-06-03. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 
  11. ^ Sean Smith. "The 'Harry Potter' books have finally gotten the wondrous movie they deserve. 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' boasts a brand-new director and a bold new vision.", Newsweek, 2004-05-31. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 
  12. ^ Owen Gleiberman. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", Entertainment Weekly, 2004-06-03. Retrieved on 2007-09-24. 
  13. ^ Ann Hornaday. "Harry-Raising Adventure: Only Fans Will Love 'Potter 3,' Hogwarts and All", Washington Post, 2004-06-04. Retrieved on 2007-09-24. 
  14. ^ "Azkaban breaks box office record", BBC NEWS, 2004-06-02. Retrieved on 2007-09-24. 
  15. ^ All time box office openings. Sky is Falling. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  16. ^ All time box office openings no previews. Sky is Falling. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  17. ^ Brandon Gray (2004-06-07). Hotter 'Potter:' Summer Bow Yields Franchise High. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
  18. ^ All time box office. Sky is Falling. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  19. ^ HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  20. ^ 2004 WORLDWIDE GROSSES. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  21. ^ 2004 DOMESTIC GROSSES. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  22. ^ OVERSEAS TOTAL YEARLY BOX OFFICE. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Dadds, Kimberly; Miriam Zendle. "Harry Potter: books vs films", Digital Spy, 2007-07-09. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
  24. ^ a b Movie Rant. CanMag Magazine (2004-11-28). Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  25. ^ "Harry Situation", Entertainment Weekly, 2004-06-17. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 

 Harry Potter Movies Portal


Preceded by
Shrek 2		 Box office number-one films of 2004 (USA)
June 6 - June 13, 2004		 Succeeded by
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
v • d • e
Alfonso Cuarón
v • d • e
The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Philosopher's Stone book • film • game • soundtrack
Chamber of Secrets book • film • game • soundtrack
Prisoner of Azkaban book • film • game • soundtrack
Goblet of Fire book • film • game • soundtrack
Order of the Phoenix book • film • game • soundtrack
Half-Blood Prince book • film
Deathly Hallows book
Characters Harry Potter • Ron Weasley • Hermione Granger • Lord Voldemort • Albus Dumbledore • Severus Snape • Sirius Black • Rubeus Hagrid • Minerva McGonagall • Draco Malfoy • Ginny Weasley • Neville Longbottom • Luna Lovegood • James and Lily Potter • Weasley family • Dursley family • Hogwarts staff • Hogwarts students • Dark Wizards • Ministry Officials
Universe Locations • Magic • Spells • Quidditch • Hogwarts • Ministry of Magic • Magical creatures • Chronology
Other Influences and analogues • Politics • Religious debates • Legal disputes • Music • Fandom • Parodies • Translation • Cast members • The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Other Literature Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them • Quidditch Through the Ages  • The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Other Games Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup • Lego Creator: Harry Potter • Harry Potter Trading Card Game
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