Movies - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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	Movies - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) is the third in the Harry Potter film series and was directed by Alfonso Cuarón. It stars the actors from the preceding films in the series, except for the role of Albus Dumbledore, which saw Michael Gambon taking over from the late Richard Harris. Much of the original crew also returned, including screenwriter Steve Kloves.

Tagline: Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Synopsis

A mysterious convict, Sirius Black, escapes from Azkaban and sets his sights on Hogwarts, where dementors are stationed to protect Harry and his peers.

Cast

Locations

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 Shiel 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 in London.

Trivia

Musician Ian Brown makes a cameo appearance as a wizard in The Leaky Cauldron reading A Brief History of Time
.
The score was composed and conducted by John Williams
and released on CD on May 25, 2004.
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. This means the same set was used in all three films, but it was used as a different location in each.
The film broke several opening records around the world upon its release, including the top grossing film in UK film history, and made approximately $US 35.1m in its first 3 days, totaling $US 158.1m in ten days. As of September 28, the film had grossed $US 785m worldwide.
In the Netherlands the film was given a special rating of 9.
The OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification, Australia) initially rated the film M (The equivalent to the MPAA's PG-13 classification), but the rating was lowered to PG on appeal.
David Thewlis
, who plays Professor Lupin, was an original choice to play Professor Quirrell
in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
.
J. K. Rowling said she "got goosebumps" from seeing this film because it contained things that inadvertently foreshadowed information to be revealed in coming books. This comment has created speculation among fans as to what these things might be.
The dementors were inspired by nightmares J.K. Rowling had as a teenager.
Gary Oldman
, who played Sirius Black in the film, was considered to do the voice of General Grievous in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Alterations from the book

Backstory

The backstory involving Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs is not explained, though hinted throughout the movie. James Potter is actually not disclosed to have become an animagus.
No explanation is given as to why Snape hates both Sirius and Lupin so much.
The book explains that Sirius was supposed to be the Potter's "Secret Keeper" and thus he would have been the only one who could have told Voldemort their location. This is the reason why everyone so strongly assumed his guilt. At the last moment, however, he gave the task to Peter Pettigrew and only he and the Potters knew about it.
The explanation of how Sirius escaped from Azkaban and his knowledge of Pettigrew's location is not in the film, unlike the book where he tells that he saw a picture of Pettigrew (in rat form) in The Daily Prophet.

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