Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban follows Harry through his third year at Hogwarts while an escaped convict is believed to be coming for him. The film opens with Harry spending another miserable summer with the Dursleys. When his Aunt Marge insults his parents, he loses control and makes her swell up like a balloon, then runs away from the house.

The Knight Bus carries him to London, where he learns that a dangerous prisoner named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban, the wizard prison, and is believed to be hunting him. Harry returns to Hogwarts, where fearsome Dementors have been posted to guard the school. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are at his side again, played by Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, while Daniel Radcliffe leads the cast for the third time.

The film sits third in release order and sixth in chronological order across all eleven films, because the three Fantastic Beasts spin-offs are set earlier in the timeline. If you are working out where to begin, the guide to Harry Potter movies in order lays out both sequences. The story follows Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and leads into Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

The full plot of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban turns on a betrayal that Harry has misunderstood. After he flees the Dursleys, Harry is told that Sirius Black, said to have helped Voldemort kill his parents, has broken out of Azkaban. At school the Dementors affect Harry badly. A new teacher, Remus Lupin, drives one off on the train and later teaches Harry to defend himself with a Patronus charm.

Harry sneaks into Hogsmeade using the Marauder's Map he got from Fred and George, and overhears that Black was his parents' friend and betrayed them. Meanwhile Buckbeak the hippogriff is sentenced to death after Draco Malfoy provokes him. On the night of the execution, a large black dog pulls Ron into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow, and Harry and Hermione follow.

The dog turns out to be Black, who is an Animagus, and he explains that the real traitor is Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew has been hiding for years as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. Lupin arrives and joins them, and the group is ready to deal with Pettigrew. Lupin then turns into a werewolf under the full moon, and Pettigrew escapes in the chaos.

The Dementors close in on Harry and Black, and Black is captured and condemned to the Dementor's Kiss. Dumbledore hints that Harry and Hermione can use her Time-Turner to change the night. They go back in time, free Buckbeak, and Harry sees that the Patronus that saved him earlier was cast by himself. Together they help Black escape on Buckbeak, and Lupin resigns once his condition becomes public.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Sunday, May 23, 2004, ahead of a worldwide opening on June 4. The UK release came first on May 31, 2004, followed by Australia on June 3 and the United States on June 4.

In the US it opened in 3,855 theaters, a record at the time, and took $93.7 million over its opening weekend. It finished with $251 million at the domestic box office and $561 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $812 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The production budget was $130 million, per The Numbers, so it earned roughly six times what it cost.

Among the eight main films it is the lowest grosser, which is a fact about ticket sales and not a judgment on quality. For the full comparison, see the Harry Potter box office page. The film was rated PG in the US, the UK and Australia.

A 90 second trailer leaked online in November 2003, before its planned theatrical debut, and it already carried the June 4 date. The new Harry Potter movie trailer page covers the series' trailers.

The ending of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a closed time loop: Harry and Hermione rescue Buckbeak and free Sirius Black because they already did so in the version of the night that Harry lived through the first time. Black flies away on the hippogriff to avoid capture, and Lupin leaves Hogwarts after his secret is exposed.

The loop works like this. Harry is saved from the Dementors by a Patronus he believes comes from someone else. When Dumbledore hints that Hermione's Time-Turner can change the night, they return and Harry sees that the caster was himself. In my opinion, that reveal is the best structural move in the saga so far, because it turns an earlier moment of rescue into something Harry earned, rather than something that simply happened to him.

The emotional result is smaller but just as important. Harry now knows his godfather is innocent and gets a chance at a family connection. Black sends him a Firebolt broom just before the credits, which could be read as the first sign of that bond. Pettigrew remains at large, so the threat does not go away, and the film leaves it for the later installments.

It could be argued that the loop also keeps the film from a neat resolution. Lupin loses his post, Black remains a fugitive and the Dementor's Kiss ordered for him is avoided only by a trick of time. Perhaps that is why the film feels like a victory and a cost in the same scene.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was filmed mainly at Leavesden Film Studios in England, with a lot more location work than the earlier films. Principal photography ran from February 24 to November 28, 2003.

The locations used were:

• Leavesden Film Studios, England: main studio shooting
• Glen Coe, Scotland: Highland exteriors
• Loch Shiel, Loch Eilt and Loch Morar, Scotland: lake and Highland scenes
• Glenfinnan Viaduct, Scotland: railway scenes
• Virginia Water Lake, Surrey, England: lake scenes
• Borough Market and Lambeth Bridge, London: street scenes
• Divinity School, Oxford, England: interior scenes

The Scottish locations give the film its look of open land around Hogwarts, and Borough Market and Lambeth Bridge supply the London street scenes. Glenfinnan Viaduct is the one for rail fans, since it carries the railway scenes.

The best known piece of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban trivia is the recasting of Dumbledore. Michael Gambon took over after Richard Harris died in October 2002, and Warner Bros. announced the casting in February 2003. Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen and Peter O'Toole were reported as other candidates.

More facts from the production:

• Chris Columbus, who directed the first two films, stayed on as a producer, and Alfonso Cuarón directed this one.
• A 90 second trailer leaked online in November 2003 before its planned theatrical debut.
• Principal photography ran from February 24 to November 28, 2003, at Leavesden Film Studios, with a lot of location work compared to earlier films.
• John Williams wrote "Double Trouble" for a children's choir, using words from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
• The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score and Best Visual Effects.
• It opened in 3,855 US theaters, a record at the time, with a $93.7 million opening weekend.

The next stop is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the series is also being adapted for television: see the Harry Potter TV series and the latest on a new Harry Potter movie.