Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (also known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) was a critically acclaimed and 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 Brothers 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 and third books have also been released on film, the fourth is planned for release in 2005, and the rest of the series will follow; it is planned that the rest of them will use the same main cast for continuity purposes, although it is commonly speculated that the child actors and actresses will eventually grow too old for their respective parts, since the movies (and more particularly recent books) have been taking over a year each. As an example of a problem which has already occurred, film trickery was needed to compensate for the actor who plays Draco due to a sudden growth spurt.

The film made in excess of $950 million at the worldwide box office (third only to Titanic and The Return of the King) and received three Oscar nominations.

Both the movie and book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone were released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the U.S., a name change some fans consider unneccessary or even insulting to those familar with the philosopher's stone legend.

J. K. Rowling insisted that the entire cast be British, in keeping with the cultural integrity of the book and the movie; she also approved the screenplay, written by Steve Kloves .

Tagline: Let The Magic Begin.

Synopsis

For a complete synopsis see Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and below for cast and book/film discrepancies

Harry Potter, a seemingly ordinary eleven-year-old boy, is actually a wizard and survivor of Lord Voldemort. Harry is rescued from his horrible Muggle realtives and takes his place at Hogwarts, where he becomes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Cast

Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) from the movie

• Harry Potter : Daniel Radcliffe
• Ron Weasley : Rupert Grint
• Hermione Granger : Emma Watson
• Draco Malfoy : Tom Felton
• Professor Dumbledore : Richard Harris
• Professor McGonagall : Maggie Smith
• Professor Snape : Alan Rickman
• Rubeus Hagrid : Robbie Coltrane
• Neville Longbottom : Matthew Lewis
• Uncle Vernon : Richard Griffiths
• Aunt Petunia : Fiona Shaw
• Dudley Dursley: Harry Melling
• Professor Quirrell : Ian Hart
• Lord Voldemort (voice) : Richard Bremmer

Differences between the film and the book

There are necessarily differences, some of which are more prominent than others. Some of these include:

• The characters of Peeves the Poltergeist, Professor Binns and Pansy Parkinson are omitted entirely
  • a scene with Peeves was actually filmed but left out of the theatrical cut: it is rumored that a forthcoming extended "director's cut" will restore his scene
• Harry doesn't find out that Lord Voldemort killed his parents until after he buys his wand
• Harry doesn't meet Malfoy until after they get to Hogwarts
• Harry, Ron and Hermione find Fluffy in a different way: rather than being tricked by Malfoy into going out of their dormitory at night and running from Argus Filch, they get lost when the staircase they're on changes direction
• Ron joins Harry, Hermione, and Draco in detention in the Forbidden Forest, rather than Neville
• Quirrell's and Snape's protections for the Philosopher's Stone are omitted.
• Quirrell gets cremated in the places that Harry touches him, rather than simply being burned.
• Harry actually sees Quirrell die (this could possibly lead to a plot contradiction in the fifth movie)

The Spoof

• The film was spoofed by Brad Neely with his soundtrack Wizard People, Dear Reader.

External links

• Official site