Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Plot

While Harry Potter spends the summer with the Dursleys, a house-elf named Dobby warns Harry of an "impending danger" at Hogwarts. He attempts to prevent him returning to Hogwarts by sabotaging an important dinner with Vernon Dursley's client. Vernon tries to prevent his departure in retaliation, but his friend Ron Weasley and his brothers Fred and George rescue him in their father's flying car. Harry meets up with Hermione Granger in Diagon Alley, where they meet Hogwarts' new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, along with Draco Malfoy and his father, Lucius, who Harry sees slip a book into Ginny Weasley's cauldron.

After being blocked from entering Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross railway station, Harry and Ron fly the car to Hogwarts, where they crash into the Whomping Willow. Ron's wand is broken, and they each receive detention, during which Harry hears a strange voice and subsequently finds caretaker Argus Filch's cat, Mrs Norris, petrified with a message written in blood: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir... beware." 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-borns. Suspecting Malfoy to be the heir, Harry, Ron, and Hermione plan to question him.

Harry's arm is broken by a rogue Bludger in a Quidditch match; while recovering, Dobby visits him and reveals he closed the barrier and made the rogue Bludger to force him to leave the school, in addition to the Chamber having been opened in the past. After students are found petrified, Harry is suspected of being the heir of Slytherin after communicating with a snake, an ability shared with Slytherin. Disguised as Crabbe and Goyle, using polyjuice potion, which they brew in a bathroom haunted by the ghost of Moaning Myrtle, Harry and Ron learn Malfoy is not the heir, but that a Muggle-born girl died when the Chamber was last opened 50 years ago. Harry finds an enchanted diary owned by a former student Tom Marvolo Riddle, who blames a young Rubeus Hagrid for opening the Chamber, leading to his expulsion.

When Hermione is petrified, Harry and Ron question Hagrid, who is taken to Azkaban by Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, while Lucius forces the school governors to remove Dumbledore from office. Hagrid discreetly tells the boys to "follow the spiders"; they venture into the Forbidden Forest and meet Hagrid's spider, Aragog, who reveals Hagrid's innocence and provides another clue to the Chamber's monster. A book page the boys find in Hermione's hand identifies the monster as a basilisk, a giant serpent that kills people who make direct eye contact; the petrified victims only saw it indirectly.

Ginny is taken into the Chamber, and the teachers nominate Lockhart to save her; Harry and Ron find Lockhart preparing to flee and realize he is a fraud. Deducing that Myrtle was the Muggle-born girl that the basilisk killed, they find the Chamber's entrance in the bathroom she haunts. Once inside, Lockhart tries to erase Harry and Ron's memories and take the credit, but his spell backfires when he uses Ron's broken wand, erasing his own memory and causing a cave-in, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart.

Harry enters the Chamber alone and finds Ginny unconscious and Riddle, Slytherin's heir and Voldemort's younger self, who reveals he used the diary to manipulate Ginny into reopening the Chamber. Harry expresses his loyalty to Dumbledore, whose pet phoenix Fawkes arrives with the Sorting Hat. Riddle summons the basilisk, who Fawkes blinds, and the Sorting Hat produces the Sword of Gryffindor, which Harry uses to kill the basilisk after a battle, but is poisoned by one of its fangs. Despite being injured, Harry stabs the diary with the basilisk fang, destroying Riddle and reviving Ginny. Harry is healed by Fawkes' tears and returns to Hogwarts with his friends and a baffled Lockhart. Harry learns that Dobby's master is Lucius, whom he accuses of planting the diary in Ginny's cauldron, and tricks him into freeing Dobby. Dumbledore is reinstated as headmaster, the basilisk's victims are healed, Hermione reunites with her friends, and Hagrid is released from Azkaban.

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 one of the youngest members of the Weasley 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.

John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick: The ghost of Gryffindor House.

Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid: The half-giant gamekeeper at Hogwarts who is framed for opening the Chamber of Secrets and is sent to Azkaban on Lucius Malfoy's orders. Martin Bayfield portrays a young Hagrid with his voice dubbed by Coltrane.

Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick: The Charms teacher at Hogwarts and head of Ravenclaw House.

Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley: Harry's abusive Muggle uncle, who despises wizards and works as a drill company director.

Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore: The headmaster of Hogwarts and one of the greatest wizards of the age. This was Harris' final live-action film; he died shortly before it was released. The role of Dumbledore was played by Michael Gambon from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban onwards.

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. Isaacs gave Lucius a whiny tone of voice based on that of the Child Catcher of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, whose voice had resonated with Isaacs throughout his childhood for the character scaring him. Isaacs also provided the voice of the Basilisk.

Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall: The Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts and head of Gryffindor House.

Gemma Jones as Madame Pomfrey: The Hogwarts nurse.

Alan Rickman as Severus Snape: The Potions teacher at Hogwarts and head of Slytherin House.

Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley: Harry's Muggle aunt.

Julie Walters as Molly Weasley: Ron's mother.

Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley

Several actors from Philosopher's Stone reprise their roles in this film. Harry Melling portrays Dudley Dursley, Harry's Muggle cousin. James and Oliver Phelps play Fred and George Weasley, Ron's twin brothers; and Chris Rankin appears as Percy Weasley, Ron's other brother and a Gryffindor prefect. 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, Devon Murray and Alfred Enoch play Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, respectively, three Gryffindor students in Harry's year. David Bradley portrays Argus Filch, Hogwarts' caretaker, and Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood, the Keeper and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Leslie Phillips voices the Sorting Hat. Eleanor Columbus, Chris Columbus's daughter, appears as Susan Bones, Edward Randell appears as Justin Finch-Fletchley, Charlotte Skeoch as Hannah Abbott, and Louis Doyle as Ernie MacMillan; Hufflepuff students. Emily Dale appears as Katie Bell, Rochelle Douglas as Alicia Spinnet, and Danielle Tabor as Angelina Johnson; the Chasers of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Jamie Yeats appears as Marcus Flint; the Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, Scott Fearn as Adrian Pucey; and David Holmes, David Massam, and Tony Christian appear as Slytherin quidditch players. Gemma Padley appears as Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw student and Percy's girlfriend. Luke Youngblood plays Lee Jordan, the Quidditch commentator.

Christian Coulson appears as Tom Marvolo Riddle, a former Hogwarts pupil, later revealed to be a manifestation of a teenage Lord Voldemort. Mark Williams portrays Arthur Weasley, Ron's father. Shirley Henderson plays Moaning Myrtle, a Hogwarts ghost. When she auditioned to play a 14-year-old Moaning Myrtle, Henderson was 37 years old, but the casting director encouraged her to attend the audition anyway and keep her age a secret. Miriam Margolyes appears as Pomona Sprout, Hogwarts' Herbology professor and head of Hufflepuff House. Hugh Mitchell portrays Colin Creevey, a first year student who 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. Jim Norton appears as Mr. Mason and Veronica Clifford appears as Mrs. Mason. Alfred Burke appears as Headmaster Dippet in a memory of Tom Riddle. Daisy Bates, David Tysall and Peter Taylor appear as moving pictures. Helen Stuart plays Millicent Bulstrode, a Slytherin girl.

Hugh Grant was rumoured to be the first choice to play the role of Gilderoy Lockhart, but due to reported scheduling conflicts with Two Weeks Notice, he was unable to play the character. Columbus later denied that Grant had been considered and stated that they had not met. Alan Cumming and Rupert Everett were also considered for Lockhart. Cumming backed out over a salary dispute. Jason Isaacs also auditioned for Lockhart, but was offered for the role of Lucius Malfoy instead. He was reluctant to take the role because he was already signed on to play Captain Hook in Peter Pan (2003), but his family convinced him to take the role and accepted it. Before Coulson was cast as Tom Riddle, James McAvoy and Eddie Redmayne – who later played Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts films – auditioned for the role.

Box office

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets held its world premiere at Odeon Leicester Square on 3 November 2002, and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 15 November 2002. The film broke multiple records upon its opening. In the United States and Canada, the film opened to an $88.4 million opening weekend, playing on 8,515 screens at 3,682 theaters, making it the third-largest opening at the time, behind Spider-Man and its predecessor Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The film would hold the record for having the largest number of screenings until it was surpassed by X2 the next year. It was also No. 1 at the box office for two non-consecutive weekends. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was the second 2002 film to return to the number one spot, just after Mel Gibson's Signs. The film joined Die Another Day and The Santa Clause 2 to outperform the weak opening of Treasure Planet. Both Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Die Another Day were the most recent films to reclaim the number one spot for six months until June 2003 when Finding Nemo became the next film to do so. In the United Kingdom, the film broke all opening records that were previously held by Philosopher's Stone. It made £18.9 million during its opening including previews and £10.9 million excluding previews. It went on to make £54.8 million in the UK; at the time, the fifth-biggest tally of all time in the region.

Internationally, the film earned $59.5 million during its opening weekend. The film earned $3.7 million in Japan, making it the highest opening of any film in the country until it was surpassed a year later by The Matrix Reloaded. In Malaysia, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets made a total of $474,000, breaking Eraser's record for having the country's biggest opening for any Warner Bros. Pictures film. It would go on to generate a total of $1.03 million in Singapore, becoming the second-highest film opening in the country, after The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Meanwhile, the film earned $3.1 million in Taiwan, surpassing The Mummy Returns by 16%. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets would then gross over $1.15 million in the Philippines, ranking as an industry high in the country only 5% bigger than Godzilla. The film made a total of $879.8 million worldwide in its original release and $926.2 million after re-releases. It was the second-highest-grossing film of 2002 worldwide behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and the fourth highest-grossing film in the US and Canada that year with $262.6 million behind Spider-Man, The Two Towers, and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. However, it was the year's number one film outside of America, making $617.2 million compared to The Two Towers' $584.5 million.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 237 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though perhaps more enchanting for younger audiences, Chamber of Secrets is nevertheless both darker and livelier than its predecessor, expanding and improving upon the first film's universe." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+", the only film in the Harry Potter series to receive such grade.

Roger Ebert gave The Chamber of Secrets 4 out of 4 stars, especially praising the set design. Entertainment Weekly commended the film for being better and darker than its predecessor: "And among the things this Harry Potter does very well indeed is deepen the darker, more frightening atmosphere for audiences. This is as it should be: Harry's story is supposed to get darker". Richard Roeper praised Columbus' direction and the film's faithfulness to the book, saying: "Chris Columbus, the director, does a real wonderful job of being faithful to the story but also taking it into a cinematic era". Variety said the film was excessively long, but praised it for being darker and more dramatic, saying that its confidence and intermittent flair to give it a life of its own apart from the books was something The Philosopher's Stone never achieved. The Guardian praised the darker storyline, but said that the acting could have been better.

A. O. Scott from The New York Times said: "instead of feeling stirred you may feel battered and worn down, but not, in the end, too terribly disappointed". Peter Travers from Rolling Stone condemned the film for being over-long and too faithful to the book: "Once again, director Chris Columbus takes a hat-in-hand approach to Rowling that stifles creativity and allows the film to drag on for nearly three hours". Kenneth Turan from the Los Angeles Times called the film a cliché which is "deja vu all over again, it's likely that whatever you thought of the first production – pro or con – you'll likely think of this one".

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Comments

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Trailer

Where to watch

Family guide

Cast & crew

Comments

Where does Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets rank?