Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a 2004 fantasy film^[1] directed by Alfonso Cuarón and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the third instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by Chris Columbus, David Heyman and Mark Radcliffe. The story follows Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts as he is informed that a prisoner named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban and wants to murder him. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. It is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and is followed by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

The film was released on 31 May 2004 in the United Kingdom and on 4 June 2004 in North America, as the first Harry Potter film released into IMAX theatres and to be using IMAX Technology. It is also the last Harry Potter film to be released on VHS as well as the last film until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to be rated PG. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards—Original Music Score and Visual Effects—at the 77th Academy Awards in 2005.

While Prisoner of Azkaban grossed a total of $796.6 million worldwide,^[1] its performance at the box office ranks as the lowest amongst the eight films. Nonetheless, it currently stands as the 33rd highest-grossing film of all-time, and is one of the most positively reviewed films of the Harry Potter film series.

Plot[link]

Harry Potter is at the Dursleys' for the summer, spending his time studying new spells. When Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge, comes for a visit and infuriates Harry by insulting his parents, he accidentally causes her to inflate and fly away. Harry loses his temper and threatens to curse Vernon but flees, fed up with his life at Privet Drive. The Knight Bus appears and delivers Harry to the Leaky Cauldron, where Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge tells him he will not be arrested. After reuniting with Ron, and Hermione, Harry learns that Sirius Black, a convicted supporter of Lord Voldemort, has escaped Azkaban prison and is likely intending to kill Harry.

Harry, Ron and Hermione head back to school on the Hogwarts Express. They unknowingly share a compartment with the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, who is sleeping. When the train abruptly stops, Dementors board, searching for Black. As Harry faints when a Dementor enters their compartment he believes he hears a woman screaming. Lupin wakes and repels the Dementor with a Patronus Charm.

At Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore informs students that the Dementors will be guarding the school while Black is at large. Professor Lupin is introduced, and Hagrid is announced as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Lupin's lessons prove enjoyable; he focuses on practice, not just theory, and encourages less confident students such as Neville when he faces a boggart in the form of his worst fear, Professor Snape. However, Hagrid's first class goes awry when Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes the Hippogriff, Buckbeak, who then attacks him. Draco's father Lucius Malfoy has Buckbeak sentenced to death on court.

That evening the trio find a crowd at the door to their dormitory, and The Fat Lady missing from her portrait. She is located in a different picture, and she tells Dumbledore that Black has entered the castle. Filch, Lupin and Snape secure and search the castle, but they find no one. As the Gryffindor Dormitory has been compromised, the students sleep in the main hall which allows Harry to overhear an argument between Snape and Dumbledore about Lupin's suspected role.

During a stormy Quidditch match, several Dementors approach and overpower Harry, causing him to fall off his broomstick, which is then destroyed by the Whomping Willow. Lupin secretly teaches Harry to defend himself against Dementors using the Patronus charm. As Harry lacks parental permission to visit Hogsmeade, Fred and George (who intercept him despite his invisible cloak due to his footprints in the snow) give him their Marauder's Map, a magical document showing every person's location within Hogwarts, as well as secret passageways in and out of the school castle. At Hogsmeade, Harry notices Fudge and Madam Rosmerta, discussing Black. He follows them after he hears mentioning his name, and overhears that Black is his godfather and was his parents' best friend. Black was accused of divulging the Potters' secret whereabouts to Voldemort and murdering their mutual friend Peter Pettigrew by blowing him up. As a result, Harry vows to kill Black.

Late at night, Harry is reading the Marauder's map, when he notices Peter Pettigrew's name on it. He exits the dormitory and follows him. He follows Pettigrew, on the map, but is unable to see him anywhere. He instead sees Snape on the map, but fails to avoid him. Snape initially confiscates the map, but hands it over to Lupin who arrives to take Harry to his classroom, keeping the map and admonishing Harry for wandering the castle while Black is at large. Before leaving, Harry mentions to Lupin seeing Pettigrew on the map.

After a class of Divination, Professor Trelawney enters a trance and predicts that the Dark Lord's servant will return that night. Later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit Hagrid to console him over Buckbeak's impending execution. While there, they discover Scabbers, Ron's missing rat. Fudge, Dumbledore, and an executioner arrive at Hagrid's to carry out Buckbeak's execution, and the three students hurry away to avoid being discovered. Scabbers suddenly bites Ron, escaping, and as the trio chase him a large dog appears and drags both Ron and Scabbers into a hole at the Whomping Willow's base. Harry and Hermione are attacked by the tree but also manage to enter the underground passage to the Shrieking Shack.

There they discover that the dog is actually Sirius Black, who is an Animagus. Harry attacks Black, but Lupin arrives and disarms Harry. After exchanging a few cryptic words with Black, Lupin then embraces him as an old friend. When confronted by Hermione, Lupin admits to being a werewolf, and he and Black begin to explain that Black is innocent. Professor Snape bursts in, intending to hand over Black to the Dementors, but Harry, having doubts, knocks him out with a spell. Lupin and Black explain that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew, an Animagus who committed the crime for which Black was convicted.

Lupin and Black force Pettigrew back into his human form preparatory to killing him, but Harry intervenes saying that his father would not have wanted his two best friends to become killers. Pettigrew is instead to be turned over to the Dementors. As the group heads to the castle, the full moon rises; Lupin transforms into a werewolf, and Pettigrew manages to escape. Lupin and Black fight in their animal forms, until Lupin is distracted by another animal's howls. Dementors attack Black and Harry. As Dementors are preparing to suck out their souls and perform the Dementor's Kiss, Harry sees a distant figure cast a powerful stag-shaped Patronus that scatters the Dementors. Harry believes the mysterious figure is his dead father.

Harry passes out from the trauma, and awakens to find he is in Hogwarts and Sirius has been captured. Acting on advice from Dumbledore, Hermione reveals that she possesses a time-turner that she has used all year to take multiple classes simultaneously. She and Harry travel back in time three hours, watching themselves repeat that night's events. They free Buckbeak, and return to the Whomping Willow. As the Dementors overpower Black and his earlier self, Harry realises that he himself was the one to cast the Patronus, and rushes to do so. Harry and Hermione then rescue Black, who escapes on Buckbeak, commenting that they are both now fugitives. Lupin resigns the next day, knowing that parents will object to a werewolf teaching their children. Shortly after, Black anonymously sends Harry a Firebolt, the fastest racing broom ever made.

Cast[link]

• Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, the film's protagonist.
• Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, one of Harry's best friends.
• Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Harry's other best friend.

• Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper and the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher.
• Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts Headmaster. Gambon assumed the role after Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the previous two films, died on 25 October 2002.^[2] Despite his illness, Harris was determined to film his part, telling a visiting David Heyman not to recast the role.^[3] Four months after Harris's death, Cuarón chose Gambon as his replacement.^[3][4] Gambon was unconcerned with bettering or copying Harris, instead giving his own interpretation, putting on a slight Irish accent for the role,^[5] as well as completing his scenes in three weeks.^[6] Rumours of Ian McKellen being offered the role started to spread, but when confronted, he turned the rumours down, stating that he has played a similar character in Gandalf of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He also stated it would have been inappropriate to take Harris' role, as the late actor had called McKellen a "dreadful" actor.^[7][8] Harris's family had expressed an interest in seeing Harris's close friend Peter O'Toole being chosen as his replacement.^[9]
• Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley, Harry's Muggle uncle.
• Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, an escapee from the Wizarding prison Azkaban and Harry's godfather. Oldman accepted the part because he needed the money, as he had not taken on any major work in several years as he had decided to spend more time with his children.^[10] He drew inspiration from Cuarón, whom he described as having "such enthusiasm and a joy for life,"^[11] and compared Sirius to John Lennon.^[10] He was "surprised by how difficult it was to pull off", comparing the role to Shakespearean dialogue.^[11] Oldman suggested Sirius's hairstyle, while Cuarón designed his tattoos.^[11] He had read the first book, and his children were fans of the series. The part made Oldman a hero with his children and their schoolmates.^[5]
• Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, the Potions master at Hogwarts.
• Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley, Harry's Muggle aunt.
• Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts.
• Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew, a friend of Harry's parents said to have been killed by Sirius Black.
• David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. Thewlis, who had 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 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."^[12] Cuarón told Thewlis that he thought Lupin was gay, pitching him as a "gay junkie", although his idea turned out to be incorrect.^[13] Thewlis had seen the first two films and had only read part of the first book, although after taking the role he read the third. He was excited about the prospect of making a children's film, and thoroughly enjoyed filming.^[5]
• Emma Thompson as Sybill Trelawney, the Divination teacher at Hogwarts.
• Julie Walters as Molly Weasley, the Weasley matriarch and a mother figure to Harry.

Production[link]

Development[link]

With Prisoner of Azkaban production of the Harry Potter films switched to an 18-month cycle, which producer David Heyman explained was "to give each [film] the time it required."^[3] Chris Columbus, the director of the previous two films, decided not to return and helm the third instalment as he "hadn't seen [his] own kids for supper in the week for about two and a half years."^[14] Even so, he remained on as a producer alongside Heyman.^[15] Guillermo del Toro was approached to direct, but considered the film "so bright and happy and full of light, that [he] wasn't interested."^[16] Marc Forster turned down the film because he had made Finding Neverland and did not want to direct child actors again. Warner Bros. then composed a three-name short list for Columbus's replacement, which comprised Callie Khouri, Kenneth Branagh (who played Gilderoy Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets) and eventual selection Alfonso Cuarón.^[17] Cuarón was initially nervous about accepting as he had not read any of the books, or seen the films. After reading the series, he changed his mind and signed on to direct,^[18] as he had immediately connected to the story.^[15] 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.^[19] Heyman found that "tonally and stylistically, [Cuarón] was the perfect fit."^[3] As his first exercise with the actors who portray the central trio, Cuarón assigned Radcliffe, Grint and Watson to write an autobiographical essay about their character, written in the first person, spanning birth to the discovery of the magical world, and including the character's emotional experience. Of Rupert Grint's essay, Cuarón recalls, "Rupert didn't delivery the essay. When I questioned why he didn't do it, he said, 'I'm Ron; Ron wouldn't do it.' So I said, 'Okay, you do understand your character.' That was the most important piece of acting work that we did on Prisoner of Azkaban, because it was very clear that everything they put in those essays was going to be the pillars they were going to hold on to for the rest of the process."^[5][20]

Filming[link]

Loch Shiel, where scenes from Prisoner of Azkaban were filmed.

Principal photography began on 24 February 2003,^[4] at Leavesden Film Studios, and concluded in October 2003.^[21]

Some sets for the film were built in Glen Coe, Scotland, near the Clachaig Inn. The indoor sets, including ones built for the previous two films, are mainly in Leavesden Film Studios. The Hogwarts Lake was filmed from Loch Shiel, Loch Eilt and Loch Morar 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 boarded the train. A small section of the triple-decker bus scene, where it weaves in between traffic, was filmed in Palmers Green in North London. Some parts were also filmed in and around Borough Market and Lambeth Bridge in London.

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

Rowling allowed Cuarón to make minor changes to the book, on the condition that he stuck to the book's spirit.^[18] She allowed him to place a sundial on the Hogwarts' grounds, but rejected a graveyard, as that would play an important part in the then unreleased sixth book.^[18] 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."^[19] When filming concluded, Cuarón found that it had "been the two sweetest years of my life," and expressed his interest in directing one of the sequels.^[18]

Effects[link]

Cuarón originally wanted to move away from CGI toward puppetry. He hired master underwater puppeteer Basil Twist to help, using puppets to study the potential movement of the Dementors.^[3] 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.

Music[link]

The Academy Award nominated score was the third and final Potter score to be composed and conducted by John Williams and released on CD on 25 May 2004. In general, his music for this third film is not as bright as that of the previous films, with distinct medieval influences in the instrumentation. One of the new themes, "Double Trouble," was written during production so that a children's choir could perform it in Hogwarts's Great Hall in one of the film's earlier scenes. The lyrics of "Double Trouble" are from a ritual performed by the Weïrd Sisters in Act 4, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth.^[22]

Brand X Music scored the trailers, using the tracks "Anticipation" and "Progeny".

Differences from the book[link]

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 back-story. The film opens with Harry using magic to light his wand in short bursts, whereas in the same scene in the book he uses a torch as performing magic is illegal for wizards under the age of seventeen. Also In the book, there is no shrunken head in the night bus, while in the movie, a rude shrunken head talks through most of the Knight bus scene. 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] Additionally, it was never mentioned as to who the Marauders were or who the nicknames (Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs) belonged to. 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 back story of Sirius Black is also cut, with no mention of the manner of his escape from Azkaban.^[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]

In the movie, where Harry and Hermione have travelled back in time and are hiding outside of Hagrid's hut, it is heavily implied that Dumbledore somehow knows that they are there, as he distracts the other characters at key moments or slows down the proceedings (such as by suggesting that he sign Buckbeak's execution order as well, then after Fudge agrees he says it will take some time as he has an extremely long name), which allows Harry and Hermione time to free Buckbeak unseen. In the book, Dumbledore merely comments that the executioner must sign the order, right before he is about to leave the cabin to execute Buckbeak.

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] However, some critics and fans thought that the result was a murky plotline. That said, any mention of the beginnings of Harry's crush on Cho Chang is removed.^[25] The darker side of Harry is first glimpsed in this film, when Harry proclaims, "I hope he [Black] finds me. Cause when he does, I'm gonna be ready. When he does, I'm gonna kill him!"^[23] Also, Harry receives the Firebolt at the end of the film, while in the book he receives it anonymously at Christmas and it is confiscated for a few weeks to be checked for possible jinxes by Professor Flitwick and Madam Hooch.

Release[link]

Box office[link]

The film opened in the United Kingdom on 31 May 2004 and on 4 June 2004 in the United States. It broke the record for biggest single day in UK box office history making £5.3 million on a Monday.^[26] It went on to break records both with and without previews making a stunning £23.9 million including previews^[27] and £9.3 million excluding them.^[28] The Prisoner of Azkaban currently has the highest opening weekend at the box office of the United Kingdom. The film made $93.7 million during its opening weekend in the United States and Canada at 3,855 theatres, achieving, at the time, the third biggest opening weekend of all time.^[29] This opening also broke Hulk's record ($62.1 million) for the highest opening weekend in June.^[29] The Prisoner of Azkaban held this record for five years until Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen topped it in 2009 with $108.9 million.^[30] It went on to make £45.6 million in the UK.^[31]

The Prisoner of Azkaban made a total of $796.6 million worldwide,^[1] which made it the second highest-grossing film of 2004 worldwide behind Shrek 2.^[32] In the United States and Canada, it was only the sixth highest-grossing film of the year making $249.5 million.^[33] Everywhere else in the world, however, it was the number one film of the year, making $547 million compared to Shrek 2's $478.6 million.^[34] 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). Still, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is currently the 33rd highest-grossing film in history.

Critical reception[link]

Prisoner of Azkaban earned mostly positive reviews, garnering a 91% "Certified Fresh" approval rating at the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with a consensus stating,"In Cuaron's hands, Azkaban has emotional depth to go along with the technical wizardry."^[35] The film also received a score of 82 out of 100 at Metacritic, which signifies "universal acclaim."^[36]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle lauded the film's more mature tone and said it was "darker, more complex, rooted in character."^[37] 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.^[38] Peter Travers of 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."^[39] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com asserts it to be "one of the greatest fantasy films of all time."^[40] The Washington Post's Nicole Arthur praised the film as "complex, frightening, [and] nuanced."^[41] Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying that the film was not quite as good as the first two, but still called it "delightful, amusing and sophisticated"^[42] Claudia Puig from USA Today found the film to be "a visual delight," and added that "Cuaron is not afraid to make a darker film and tackle painful emotions."^[43] while Richard Roeper called the film "a creative triumph."^[44] 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,^[45] while Entertainment Weekly praised the film for being more mature than its predecessors.^[46]

Some of the 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."^[47] Rex Reed, of The New York Observer, also pointed out some unnecessary stylistic changes, calling it "the silliest, as well as the most contrived – and confusing – of them all."

Awards[link]

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

• Academy Award for Original Music Score – John Williams
• Academy Award for Visual Effects

The film also ranks at number 471 in Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.^[48] IGN designated Prisoner of Azkaban as the 5th best fantasy film.^[49] Additionally, Moviefone designated the film as the 10th best of the decade. In 2011, the film was voted Film of the Decade at the First Light Awards by children aged 5–15.^[50]

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated^[51]
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Fantasy Film^[52]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Film portal
	Harry Potter portal

	Book: Harry Potter
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• Official website (US)
• Official website (UK)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at the Internet Movie Database
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at AllRovi
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at Rotten Tomatoes
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at Box Office Mojo
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at Metacritic