The Best Harry Potter Movie Had The Worst Box Office
This movie did not become a commercial sensation, but received all the love from the fans.
In recent years, Potter fans have reached a consensus – Prisoner of Azkaban is now almost canonically considered the best movie of the franchise. And there're several reasons for that.
On the one hand, there is the original source by JK Rowling, who has taken a giant step from a cozy children's tale to a more complex and upscale teenage literature, in which the wizarding world is no longer divided into black and white.
On the other hand, the visual part of the movie was really outstanding thanks to the director's work of Alfonso Cuarón.
He never leaves the frame static and lets the camera move freely, flying through glass and mirrors, bringing magical elements like flying candles or moving posters.
Strange as it may seem, however, Prisoner of Azkaban grossed the least of any of the other Harry Potter movies – while all of the other installments have grossed around $900 million or even reached the billion-dollar mark, the third movie grossed a modest $797 million by franchise standards.
Considering that Prisoner of Azkaban came to be regarded as the best movie in the series by almost everyone only after a while, it can be assumed that this installment was simply too different from the previous movies – it was darker, more serious and more adult, which could be the reason for the lower box office.
Prisoner of Azkaban is the most mystical movie of the franchise, but at the same time the most realistic and vivid – only here the students of Hogwarts wear ordinary clothes and do it in a teenage casual way, and compete not with Voldemort (again, the only time in the series), but with time.
The list of moments and details in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban could go on and on. But they all come together in one big, incredible movie created by the sure hand of Alfonso Cuarón.
Of course, this is not to say that other installments did not have unique moments – of the eight Harry Potter movies, it is generally impossible to say that at least one was bad.
But Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban crosses all possible boundaries and goes even further.