Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 23:19, 21 July 2007

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Film poster
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Written by	Novel: J.K. Rowling Screenplay: Steve Kloves
Produced by	David Heyman David Barron
Starring	Daniel Radcliffe Rupert Grint Emma Watson Richard Harris Tom Felton Christian Coulson Alan Rickman Maggie Smith Robbie Coltrane Bonnie Wright Kenneth Branagh
Cinematography	Roger Pratt
Edited by	Peter Honess
Music by	John Williams
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	November 3, 2002
Running time	161 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$100 Million
Box office	Domestic: $261,988,482 Worldwide: $876,688,482

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second fantasy adventure film in the popular Harry Potter films series, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The film was released on November 15, 2002 and was directed by returning director, Chris Columbus. The screenplay was adapted by returning screenwriter, Steven Kloves.

Most of the major cast and crew from Philosopher's Stone (also known as Sorcerer's Stone) returned for Chamber of Secrets, including child stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint and director Chris Columbus. However, it was the last appearance by Richard Harris as Dumbledore and currently the last Harry Potter film directed by Columbus. New key actors included Kenneth Branagh as Lockhart and Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy. It remains the only film in the franchise that has not been nominated for an Academy Award.

The film was very well received at the box office, having one of the largest opening weekend grosses of its time ($88.4M USD) and eventually grossing more than $876 million USD worldwide.

Synopsis

Harry, Ron and Hermione return to Hogwart's, the wizarding school, for their second year. A house-elf named Dobby warns Harry not to return to the school, saying that something terrible will happen if he does, but Harry journeys to Hogwart's anyway. Suddenly, many of the muggle-born students, or Mudbloods, become frozen in place, or petrified. Warnings go up that a secret chamber has been opened in the school, unleashing a monster into the castle. The legend states that the heir of Slytherin is responsible. Rumors arise that Harry is the one who opened the chamber, and the three set out to find the true culprit. When Ron's sister, Ginny, is taken into the chamber and locked away, Harry and Ron solve the mystery of the chamber, discover its entrance and defeat "the preserved memory" of former student Tom Marvolo Riddle, who eventually became Lord Voldemort.

Production

Production for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets began on November 19, 2001, just three days after the widespread release of the first Harry Potter film. It was shot on location in several places in Great Britain and at Leavesden Film Studios in London. Filming finished in the summer of 2002.

The rapid production and quick turnaround on the second movie led fans to speculate that perhaps all of the films would be released annually (finishing in 2007, the same year as the final book). This turned out not to be the case as the third film, Prisoner of Azkaban, was released more than a year after Chamber of Secrets.

As was revealed during production, Chamber of Secrets was the second and currently last Harry Potter movie directed by Chris Columbus. However, he has expressed interest to return for the "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" films. The series also lost veteran Dumbledore actor Richard Harris, who died on October 25, 2002.

Also received a PG rating for scary moments, some creature violence, and mild language. Daniel Radcliffe said he was allowed to keep the sword when he was interviewed on Larry King Live

Marketing

The film's soundtrack was released on November 12, 2002. The film's scores were composed by John Williams, with some new material written by composer William Ross from adaptations of Williams' score, when he was unavailable due to time constraints. The soundtrack was conducted by William Ross. A video game based on the film was released in 2002.

Cast

Response

The film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets premiered in the UK on November 3, 2002 and in USA on November 14, 2002 before its widespread release on November 15, one year after the Philosopher's Stone film (November 16, 2001). It earned over $88 million USD in the US during its first weekend, which was then third place all-time behind Spider-Man and the first Harry Potter movie. It went on to gross $876,688,482 USD worldwide; while less than the first movie's take, it still ranks as one of the highest grossing movies of all-time.

The film was the second highest grossing film of 2002 behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers worldwide. However, it was the number one film of the year at the non-American box office making about $614 million compared to The Two Towers' $583 million. It became the 5th highest grossing film of all time. To this day it remains as one of the highest grossing films of all time, at number 12.

Reviews were generally positive according to Rotten Tomatoes (82%) and Metacritic.com (63). On January 14 2003, Chamber of Secrets won the award for "Best Live Action Family Film" in the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards. However, currently it is the only Harry Potter film that was not nominated for any Academy Awards.

See also

• Differences between book and film versions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

References

1. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)". IMDb Pro. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
2. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- Greg's Preview. Yahoo! Movies.

Template:HP movie film

• 2002 films
• Films based on fantasy books
• Harry Potter films
• British films
• Sequel films
• Warner Bros. films
• Films shot in Super 35
• English-language films
• Fictional-language films