Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a 2004 fantasy film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.[4] It is based on J. K. Rowling's 1999 novel of the same name. The film, which is the third instalment in the Harry Potter film series, was 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 intending to kill 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 also features well-known actors in supporting roles, including Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, Michael Gambon (in his debut in the role of Albus Dumbledore), Emma Thompson as Sybill Trelawney and Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew. 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 was also the last Harry Potter film to be released on VHS in the U.S. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Original Music Score and Best Visual Effects at the 77th Academy Awardsin 2005.

Prisoner of Azkaban grossed a total of $796.7 million worldwide,[4] making it the second highest-grossing film of 2004 and received praise for Cuarón's direction and the performances of the lead actors.[5] It marked a notable change in the film series' tone and directing, and is considered by many critics and fans to be one of the best Harry Potter films.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Plot
Harry Potter has been spending another dissatisfying summer with The Dursleys. When Harry's Aunt Marge insults his parents, he loses his temper and silently wills her to bloat up and float away. Fed up, Harry then flees the Dursleys with his luggage. The Knight Bus delivers Harry to the Leaky Cauldron, where he is pardoned by Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge for using magic outside of Hogwarts. After reuniting with his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry learns that Sirius Black, a convicted supporter of the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, has escaped Azkaban prison and intends to kill Harry.

The trio return to Hogwarts for the school year on the Hogwarts Express, only for dementors to suddenly board the train, searching for Sirius. One enters the trio's compartment, causing Harry to pass out, but new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Lupin repels the dementor with a Patronus Charm. At Hogwarts, headmaster Albus Dumbledore announces that dementors will be guarding the school while Sirius is at large. Hogwarts groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid is announced as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher; his first class goes awry when Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes the hippogriffBuckbeak, who attacks him. Draco exaggerates his injury, and his father Lucius Malfoy later has Buckbeak sentenced to death.

The Fat Lady's portrait, which guards the Gryffindor quarters, is found ruined and empty. Terrified and hiding in another painting, she tells Dumbledore that Sirius has entered the castle. During a stormy Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, dementors attack Harry, causing him to fall off his broomstick. At Hogsmeade, Harry is shocked to learn that not only had Sirius been his father's best friend and apparently betrayed them to Voldemort, but is also Harry's godfather. Lupin privately teaches Harry to defend himself against dementors, using the Patronus Charm.

After Harry, Ron, and Hermione witness Buckbeak's execution, Ron's pet rat Scabbers bites him and escapes. When Ron gives chase, a large dog appears and drags both Ron and Scabbers into a hole at the Whomping Willow's base. This leads the trio to an underground passage of the Shrieking Shack, where they discover that the dog is actually Sirius, who is an Animagus. Lupin arrives and embraces Sirius as an old friend. He admits to being a werewolf, and explains that Sirius is innocent. Sirius was falsely accused of betraying the Potters to Voldemort, as well as murdering twelve Muggles and their mutual friend, Peter Pettigrew. It is revealed that Scabbers is actually Pettigrew, an Animagus who betrayed the Potters and committed the murders. After forcing him back into human form, Lupin and Sirius prepare to kill him, but Harry convinces them to turn Pettigrew over to the dementors.

As the group departs, the full moon rises and Lupin transforms into a werewolf. Sirius transforms into his dog form to fight him off. In the midst of the chaos, Pettigrew transforms back into a rat and escapes. Harry and Sirius are attacked by dementors, and Harry sees a figure in the distance save them by casting a powerful Patronus spell. He believes the mysterious figure is his deceased father before passing out. He awakens to discover that Sirius has been captured and sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss.

Acting on Dumbledore's advice, Harry and Hermione travel back in time with Hermione's Time Turner, and watch themselves and Ron repeat the night's events. They save Buckbeak from execution and witness the Dementors overpower Harry and Sirius. The present Harry realises that it was actually him who conjured the Patronus, and does so again. Harry and Hermione rescue Sirius, who escapes with Buckbeak. Exposed as a werewolf, Lupin resigns from teaching to prevent an uproar from parents. Sirius sends Harry a Firebolt broom, and he happily takes it for a ride.

Cast

 * Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, a 13-year-old British wizard famous for surviving his parents' murder at the hands of the evil dark wizard Lord Voldemort as an infant, who now enters his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
 * Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend at Hogwarts.
 * Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Harry's Muggle-born best friend and the trio's brains.
 * Julie Christie as Madam Rosmerta, the short-tempered landlady of the Three Broomsticks pub in Hogsmeade.
 * Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper and new Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts.
 * Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts and one of the greatest wizards of the age. Gambon assumed the role after Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the previous two films, died on 25 October 2002, 3 weeks before the 2nd film's release.[13] Despite his illness, Harris was determined to film his part, telling a visiting David Heyman not to recast the role.[14] Four months after Harris's death, Cuarón chose Gambon as his replacement.[14][15] Gambon was unconcerned with bettering or copying Harris, instead giving his own interpretation, putting on a slight Irish accent for the role,[16] as well as completing his scenes in three weeks.[17] Rumours of Ian McKellen being offered the role started to spread, but when asked he rejected the rumours and stated he had played a similar character in Gandalfof The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He also stated it would have been inappropriate to take Harris's role, as the late actor had called McKellen a "dreadful" actor.[18][19] Harris's family had expressed an interest in seeing Harris's close friend Peter O'Toole being chosen as his replacement.[20]
 * Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley, Harry's Muggle uncle.
 * Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, Harry's infamous godfather, who escapes from the Wizarding prison Azkaban after serving twelve years there for being falsely accused of being the Death Eater who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort. Oldman accepted the part because he needed the money, as he had not taken on any major work in several years after deciding to spend more time with his children.[21] He was "surprised by how difficult it was to pull off", comparing the role to Shakespearean dialogue.[22]
 * Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, the Potions teacher at Hogwarts and head of Slytherin.
 * Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley, Harry's Muggle aunt.
 * Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts and head of Gryffindor.
 * Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy, Harry's arch rival and a Slytherin house student.
 * Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew, a friend of Harry's parents said to have been killed by Sirius Black, but was later revealed to have been the real Death Eater who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort.
 * David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Artsteacher at Hogwarts and a werewolf. Thewlis, who had previously auditioned for the role of Quirinus Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was Cuarón's first choice for the role of Professor Lupin. He accepted the role on advice from Ian Hart, who was cast as Quirrell, and had told him that Professor Lupin was "the best part in the book."[23] 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.[16]
 * Emma Thompson as Sybill Trelawney, the Divination teacher at Hogwarts.

Development
With Prisoner of Azkaban, production of the Harry Potter films switched to an eighteen-month cycle, which producer David Heyman explained was "to give each [film] the time it required."[14] Chris Columbus, the director of the previous two films, decided not to return to helm the third instalment as he "hadn't seen [his] own kids for supper in the week for about two and a half years."[24] Even so, he remained on as a producer alongside Heyman.[25] Guillermo del Toro was approached to direct but considered the film "so bright and happy and full of light, that [he] wasn't interested."[26] Marc Forster turned down the film because he had made Finding Neverland and did not want to direct child actors again. M. Night Shyamalan was considered to direct but turned it down because he was working on his own film, The Village. 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.[27] 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,[28] as he had immediately connected to the story.[25] 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.[29] Heyman found that "tonally and stylistically, [Cuarón] was the perfect fit."[14] 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 deliver 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."[16][30]