Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Chris Columbus |
| Produced by | David Heyman |
| Screenplay by | Steve Kloves |
| Starring | |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Roger Pratt |
| Editing by | Peter Honess |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 3 November 2002 (Odeon Leicester Square) 15 November 2002 (United Kingdom and United States) |
| Running time | 161 minutes |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $100 million |
| Money made | $880.3 million |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a 2002 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, based on J. K. Rowling's 1998 novel of the same name. Produced by David Heyman and written by Steve Kloves, it is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and the second instalment in the Harry Potter film series. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, with Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger. Its story follows Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the Heir of Salazar Slytherin opens the Chamber of Secrets, unleashing a monster that petrifies the school's denizens.
The cast of the first film returned for the sequel, with the additions of Kenneth Branagh, Jason Isaacs, and Gemma Jones, among others. It was the last film to feature Richard Harris as Professor Albus Dumbledore, due to his death that same year. Principal photography began in November 2001, only three days after the release of the first film. It was shot at Leavesden Film Studios and historic buildings around the United Kingdom, as well as on the Isle of Man. Filming concluded in July 2002.
Chamber of Secrets was released in theatres in the United Kingdom and the United States on 15 November 2002. The film became a critical and commercial success, grossing $879 million worldwide and becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2002 behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It was nominated for many awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Special Visual Effects. It was followed by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004.
Contents
Plot
Spending the summer with the Dursleys, Harry Potter meets Dobby, a house-elf who warns him it's too dangerous to return to Hogwarts. Dobby sabotages an important dinner for the Dursleys, who lock Harry up to prevent his return to Hogwarts. Harry's friend Ron Weasley and his brothers Fred and George rescue him in their father's flying Ford Anglia.
Harry and the Weasley family are joined by Rubeus Hagrid and Hermione Granger at a book-signing by Gilderoy Lockhart, who announces he is Hogwarts' new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Confronted by Draco Malfoy, Harry notices Malfoy's father, Lucius, slip a book into Ginny Weasley's belongings. When Harry and Ron are blocked from entering Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at London King's Cross railway station, they take the flying car to Hogwarts; after crashing into the Whomping Willow and breaking Ron's wand, they receive detention.
In detention, Harry hears strange voices and later finds caretaker Argus Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, petrified beside a message written in blood: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir... beware". Professor McGonagall explains that one of Hogwarts' founders, Salazar Slytherin, supposedly constructed a secret Chamber containing a monster that only his Heir can control, capable of purging the school of Muggle-born students. Suspecting Malfoy is the Heir, Harry, Ron, and Hermione plan to question him while disguised using forbidden polyjuice potion, which they brew in a disused bathroom haunted by a ghost, Moaning Myrtle.
During a Quidditch game, Harry's arm is broken by a Bludger. Visiting him in the infirmary, Dobby reveals that he closed the portal to Platform 9 3/4 and made the Bludger chase Harry to force him to leave the school. When Harry communicates with a snake, the school believes he is the Heir. Harry and Ron learn Malfoy is not the Heir, but his father had told him a Muggle-born girl died when the Chamber was last opened. Harry finds an enchanted diary owned by former student Tom Riddle, who fifty years prior accused Hagrid, then a student, of opening the Chamber. When the diary is stolen and Hermione is petrified, Harry and Ron question Hagrid. Professor Dumbledore, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, and Lucius arrive to take Hagrid to Azkaban, but he discreetly tells the boys to "follow the spiders". In the Forbidden Forest, Harry and Ron meet Hagrid's giant pet spider, Aragog, who reveals Hagrid's innocence and provides a clue about the Chamber's monster.
A book page in Hermione's hand identifies the monster as a Basilisk, a giant serpent that kills people who make direct eye contact with it; the petrified victims only saw it indirectly. The school staff learn Ginny has been taken into the Chamber, and nominate Lockhart to save her. Harry and Ron find Lockhart preparing to flee, exposing him as a fraud; knowing Myrtle was the girl the Basilisk killed, they find the Chamber's entrance in her bathroom. Once inside, Lockhart seizes Ron's broken wand but it backfires, wiping Lockhart's memory and causing a cave-in.
Harry enters the Chamber alone and finds Ginny unconscious, guarded by Riddle, who reveals that he used the diary to manipulate Ginny into reopening the Chamber, and that he is Slytherin's heir and Voldemort's younger self. After Harry expresses his loyalty to Dumbledore, Fawkes arrives with the Sorting Hat, causing Riddle to summon the Basilisk. Fawkes blinds the Basilisk, and the Sorting Hat eventually produces the Sword of Gryffindor, with which Harry battles the Basilisk, killing it and getting poisoned by one of its fangs in the process.
Despite his injury, Harry stabs the diary with the Basilisk fang, defeating Riddle and reviving Ginny. Fawkes' tears heal Harry, and he returns to Hogwarts with his friends and a baffled Lockhart, earning Dumbledore's praise and Hagrid's release. Harry accuses Lucius, Dobby's master, of planting the diary in Ginny's cauldron, and tricks him into freeing Dobby. The Basilisk's victims are healed, Hermione reunites with Harry and Ron, and Hagrid returns to Hogwarts.
Cast
- Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter: A 12-year-old British wizard famous for surviving his parents' murder at the hands of the evil wizard Lord Voldemort as an infant, who now enters his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
- Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley: Harry's best friend at Hogwarts and a younger member of the Weasley wizarding family.
- Emma Watson as Hermione Granger: Harry's other best friend and the trio's brains.
- Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart: A celebrity author and the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. Hugh Grant was the first choice for the role to play Lockhart, but due to reported scheduling conflicts he was unable to play the character. Alan Cumming was also considered for the role.
- John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick: The ghost of Gryffindor House.
- Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid: The half-giant gamekeeper at Hogwarts. Martin Bayfield portrays a young Hagrid.
- Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick: The Charms teacher at Hogwarts and head of Ravenclaw.
- Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley: Harry's abusive Muggle uncle, who despises wizards and now works as a drill company director.
- Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore: Headmaster of Hogwarts and one of the greatest wizards of the age. Harris died shortly before the film was released.
- Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy: Draco's father and a former Hogwarts pupil of Slytherin House who now works as a school governor at Hogwarts.
- Gemma Jones as Madam Pomfrey: The magical Healer of the Hogwarts hospital wing.
- 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: The Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts and head of Gryffindor.
- Julie Walters as Molly Weasley: Ron's mother.
Several actors from Philosopher's Stone reprise their roles in this film. Harry Melling portrays Dudley Dursley, Harry's cousin. James and Oliver Phelps play Fred and George Weasley, Ron's twin brothers; Chris Rankin appears as Percy Weasley, Ron's other brother and a Gryffindor prefect; and Bonnie Wright portrays their sister Ginny. Tom Felton plays Draco Malfoy, Harry's rival in Slytherin, while Jamie Waylett and Joshua Herdman appear as Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's minions. Matthew Lewis and Devon Murray play Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan, respectively, two Gryffindor students in Harry's year. David Bradley portrays Argus Filch, Hogwarts' caretaker, and Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood, the Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Leslie Phillips voices the Sorting Hat.
Christian Coulson appears as Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of young Lord Voldemort; Mark Williams portrays Arthur Weasley, Ron's father. Shirley Henderson plays Moaning Myrtle, a Hogwarts ghost. Miriam Margolyes appears as Pomona Sprout, Hogwarts' Herbology professor. Hugh Mitchell portrays Colin Creevey, a first year student that is a fan of Harry's. Robert Hardy appears as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Toby Jones voices Dobby, a House-elf, while Julian Glover voices Aragog, an acromantula.
Distribution
Images for kids
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The flying Ford Anglia used in the film.
See also
In Spanish: Harry Potter y la cámara secreta (película) para niños
