Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a
fantasy adventure film, based on the
novel of the same name by
J. K. Rowling. Directed by
Mexican film maker
Alfonso Cuarón, it is the third film in the popular
Harry Potter series. It stars
Daniel Radcliffe as the teenage wizard Harry Potter, and
Rupert Grint and
Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
Gary Oldman and
David Thewlis joined the cast as the new characters Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. In this movie, the role of Albus Dumbledore was played by
Michael Gambon who took over from the late
Richard Harris who died of
Hodgkin's disease.
Steve Kloves returned as screenwriter, while
Chris Columbus (the director of the previous two films) became a producer, alongside
David Heyman. The film was released on 31 May 2004 in the United Kingdom and on 4 June 2004 in North America, as the first film released into
IMAX theaters and to be using IMAX Technology. It was also the last Harry Potter film to be released on VHS.
The film was nominated for two
Academy Awards —
Academy Award for Original Music Score and
Academy Award for Visual Effects at the
77th Academy Awards held in 2005.
Plot