"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is the third film adaptation of J.K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter book series. The second sequel in the Harry Potter franchise also broke its own box office records by taking in an estimated $93.7 million dollars during its first weekend and is in position to match its predecessors. Taking over the reigns from Chris Columbus, director Alfonso Cuaron adds a dark mood, new costumes, and brilliant cinematography to the mix.

After defeating the basilisk and Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) returns home to spend yet another summer with his Muggle relatives - The Dursleys. Before returning to Hogwarts, a dreadful visit from Aunt Marge (Pam Ferris) is all that stands between him and visiting the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade with his friends. However, after a series of insults about himself and his parents, Harry loses control: he blows Marge up and leaves the Dursleys high and dry. As The Knight Bus violently transports him to the Leaky Cauldron, he learns that Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), a convicted murderer and alledged Voldemort supporter, has escaped from Azkaban prison. After arriving at the Leaky Cauldron, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy), ensures Harry everything will be alright. It is here that Harry meets up with his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and learns that Black has escaped to come after him. On the train to school, Harry, Ron, and Hermione encounter a dementor, an Azkaban guard who sucks the souls of people, and are rescued by their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), who is harboring a dark secret of his own.

Harry's third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry is met with the harsh reality of becoming a teenager and a variety of new elements: death omens, Divination professor Sybill Trelawney (Emma Thompson), Buckbeak the hippogriff, a groovy new Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), time-turners, startling revelations about the past, and the budding romance of Ron and Hermione.