Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (also known as
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the
United States and some other countries) was a highly successful
film released in
2001, based on the
fantasy novel of the same name by best-selling author
J.K. Rowling.
An agent of
Warner Bros. bought the movie rights to the film at a relatively low price soon before the book's incredible success. The movie was made at
Leavesden Film Studios and released in 2001. The second, third and fourth books have also been made into films. The rest of the series will follow. The film made in excess of $968 million
USD at the worldwide box office (third all-time behind
Titanic and
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) and received three
Oscar nominations.
It was originally planned to be filmed at
Lancing College in
West Sussex, but the headmaster at the time, Peter Tinniswood, declined the highly-paid offer, claiming "the college is for education, not
Hollywood".
J. K. Rowling insisted that the entire cast be
British, in keeping with the cultural integrity of the book and the movie. Exceptions are Harry's aunt
Petunia Dursley, played by
Fiona Shaw who is
Irish; Irish character
Seamus Finnigan (
Devon Murray),
Albus Dumbledore (
Richard Harris is also Irish),
Susan Bones (
American Eleanor Columbus, director
Chris Columbus's daughter who won the cameo role, but had no dialogue),
Griphook the Goblin (American
Verne Troyer, whose voice was dubbed),
The Bloody Baron (
Terence Bayler of
New Zealand) and
Madam Hooch (American-born, but British-raised
Zoe Wanamaker). Rowling also approved the screenplay, written by
Steve Kloves.
Harry Potter, a seemingly ordinary eleven-year-old boy, is actually a wizard and survivor of an attempted murder by the evil
Lord Voldemort when he was one year old. Surprisingly, Voldemort was successful in killing Harry's parents but not the baby. Harry lives his life in an ordinary household with his
aunt, uncle and cousin, under the impression that his parents died in a
car accident and that he is just any other boy. On his eleventh birthday he finds out that he is actually famous in the wizarding world for surviving the attack, and is requested to attend a wizarding school named
Hogwarts.
Harry goes to the school, learns magic across the year, and makes friends and enemies. But a plot is brewing to grant immortality to Voldemort, since thrown into a near-death state by his surprising inability to kill Harry. Harry and his two friends end up in a forbidden corridor, and find a
three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor. They must pass this trapdoor, and a number of other tests, to stop Voldemort.
Alterations from the book
Deleted scenes controversy
The release of the film was accompanied by advertisements that made prominent mention of deleted scenes. While the VHS and VCD version contained the scenes after the film, the DVDs included the scenes as an
Easter egg; many fans, not knowing this, felt that they were cheated upon buying the discs, and
HarryPotter.com ran an article on finding the scenes. As if in apology, the
Chamber of Secrets DVD made its deleted scenes immediately available. It does seem rather strange that, to access the scenes on the
Philosopher's Stone DVD, not only did the viewer have to answer a number of questions based on the film, but that a number of questions had answers that were only available in the deleted scenes themselves.
On U.S. television,
ABC, along with its sister cable network
ABC Family, played a version with all the deleted scenes included on the DVD, interspersed into the movie. ABC played the version for the network television premiere in 2004, whereas ABC Family aired the version more recently.
The film made in excess of $968 million
USD at the worldwide box office (third all-time behind
Titanic and
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) and received three
Oscar nominations.
Critical reaction
Critic Roger Ebert gave Philosopher's Stone four stars. Overall, the movie received mixed reviews although most of them were good.
Legacy
While this was Harry Potter's first canon appearance in the media, his first appearance on-screen (not counting trailers or ads) might have been in
The Simpsons episode,
Treehouse of Horror XII, in the segment 'Wiz Kids'.
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Warner Brother's Harry Potter site*
Movie Tour Guide.com - Maps and directions to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Filming Locations
