Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)

The flying Ford Anglia used in the film.

Production designer Stuart Craig returned for the sequel to design new elements previously not seen in the first film. He designed the Burrow based on Arthur Weasley's interest in Muggles, built vertically out of architectural salvage.[26] Mr. Weasley's flying car was created from a 1962 Ford Anglia 105E.[27] The Chamber of Secrets, measuring over 76 metres (249 ft) long and 36.5 metres (119.8 ft) wide, was the biggest set created for the saga.[28] Dumbledore's office, which houses the Sorting Hat and the Sword of Gryffindor, was also built for the film.[29]

Lindy Hemming was the costume designer for Chamber of Secrets. She retained many of the characters' already established appearances, and chose to focus on the new characters introduced in the sequel. Gilderoy Lockhart's wardrobe incorporated bright colours, in contrast with the "dark, muted or sombre colours" of the other characters. Branagh said, "We wanted to create a hybrid between a period dandy and someone who looked as if they could fit into Hogwarts."[30] Hemming also perfected Lucius Malfoy's costume. One of the original concepts was for him to wear a pinstripe suit, but was changed to furs and a snake head cane in order to remark his aristocrat quality and to reflect a "sense of the old."[30]

Principal photography for Chamber of Secrets began on 19 November 2001,[31] only three days after the wide release of the first film. Second-unit work had started three weeks before, primarily for the flying car scene.[32] Filming took place mainly at Leavesden Film Studios in Hertfordshire,[33][34][35] as well as on the Isle of Man.[36] King's Cross railway station was used as the filming location for Platform 9¾, though St Pancras International was used for the exterior shots.[37][38] Gloucester Cathedral was used as the setting for Hogwarts School,[39] along with Durham Cathedral,[40] Alnwick Castle,[41] Lacock Abbey,[42] and the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.[43] The Burrow was built in Gypsy Lane, Abbots Langley, in front of Leavesden Studios.[35]

Roger Pratt was brought on as director of photography for Chamber of Secrets, in order to give the film "a darker and edgier feel" than its predecessor, which reflected "the growth of the characters and the story."[30] Director Chris Columbus opted to use handheld cameras to allow more freedom in movement,[44] which he considered "a departure for [him] as a filmmaker."[30] University of Cambridge linguistics professor Francis Nolan created Parseltongue, the language spoken by snakes in the film.[45] Principal photography wrapped in July 2002.[46][47]

Due to the events that take place in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the film's sound effects were much more expansive than in the previous instalment. Sound designer and co-supervising sound editor Randy Thom returned for the sequel using Pro Tools to complete the job, which included initial conceptions done at Skywalker Sound in California and primary work done at Shepperton Studios in England.[48]

Thom wanted to give the Whomping Willow a voice, a deep growl for which he used his own voice slowed down, equalised and bass-boosted. For the mandrakes, he combined baby cries with female screams, in order to "make it just exotic enough so that you think, 'Hmm, I've never heard anything quite like that before.'"[48]

Thom described the basilisk as a challenge, "because it's a giant snake, but it's also like a dragon — not many snakes have teeth like that. He had to hiss, he had to roar and there were times at the end when he was in pain." He mixed his own voice, tiger roars, and horse and elephant vocalizations.[48]

Fawkes the Phoenix, Dobby, and Aragog at the Making of Harry Potter tour in London.

Visual effects took nine months to make,[44] until 9 October 2002, when the film was finished.[49] Industrial Light & Magic, Mill Film, The Moving Picture Company (MPC), Cinesite and Framestore CFC handled the approximately 950 visual effect shots in the film.[50][51] Jim Mitchell and Nick Davis served as visual effects supervisors. They were in charge of creating the CG characters Dobby the House Elf, the Basilisk, and the Cornish pixies, among others.[50] Chas Jarrett from MPC served as CG supervisor, overseeing the approach of any shot that contains CG in the film.[52] With a crew of 70 people, the company produced 251 shots, 244 of which made it to the film, from September 2001 to October 2002.[53]

The visual effects team worked alongside creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman, who devised Fawkes (Harry Potter) the Phoenix, the Mandrakes, Aragog the Acromantula, and the first 25 feet (8 m) of the Basilisk.[50][54] According to Dudman, "Aragog represented a significant challenge to the Creature department." The giant spider stood 9 feet (3 m) tall with an 18 feet (5 m) foot leg span, each of which had to be controlled by a different team member. The whole creature weighed three quarters of a ton.[50] It took over 15 people to operate the animatronic Aragog on set.[55]

The Whomping Willow sequence required a combination of practical and visual effects. Special effects supervisor John Richardson and his team created mechanically operated branches to hit the flying car.[56] A 1:3 scale set was built on stage at Shepperton Studios, which featured the fully-sized top third of the tree with a forced perspective to appear a height of over 100 feet (30 m) high. The courtyard and the tree were built in 3D. Some shots ended up being entirely digital.[53][57] Jarret identified the rendering as "the biggest challenge" of the scene, because "there was just so much going on in [it] ... It was simply massive."[57]

John Williams, who composed the previous film's score, returned to score Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Composing the film proved to be a difficult task, as Williams had just completed scoring Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Minority Report when work was to begin on Catch Me If You Can. Because of this, William Ross was brought in to arrange themes from the Philosopher's Stone into the new material that Williams was composing whenever he had the chance.[58] The soundtrack album was released on 12 November 2002.[59]

Footage for the film began appearing online in the summer of 2002, with a teaser trailer debuting in cinemas with the release of Scooby-Doo.[60] A video game based on the film was released in early November 2002 by Electronic Arts for several consoles, including GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.[61] The film also continued the merchandising success set by its predecessor, with reports of shortages on Lego's Chamber of Secrets tie-ins.[62]

The film was originally released in the UK, US and Canada on 11 April 2003 on both VHS tape and in a two-disc special edition DVD digipack, which included extended and deleted scenes and interviews.[63] On 11 December 2007, the film's Blu-ray version was released.[64] An Ultimate Edition of the film was released on 8 December 2009, featuring new footage, TV spots, an extended version of the film with deleted scenes edited in, and a feature-length special Creating the World of Harry Potter Part 2: Characters.[65] The film's extended version has a running time of about 174 minutes, which has previously been shown during certain television airings.[66]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets held its world premiere at Odeon Leicester Square on 3 November 2002,[67] and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 15 November 2002.[68] The film broke multiple records upon its opening. In the US and Canada, the film opened to an $88.4 million opening weekend at 3,682 cinemas, the third-largest opening at the time, behind Spider-Man and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.[69] It was also No. 1 at the box office for two non-consecutive weekends.[70] 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. [71] It went on to make £54.8 million in the UK; at the time, the fifth-biggest tally of all time in the region.[72]

The film made a total of $879 million worldwide.[2][73] It was the second-highest-grossing film of 2002 worldwide behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,[74] and the fourth highest-grossing film in the US and Canada that year with $262 million behind Spider-Man, The Two Towers, and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.[75] However, it was the year's number one film outside of America, making $617 million compared to The Two Towers' $584.5 million.[76]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 239 reviews, with an average rating of 7.21/10. 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."[77] On Metacritic the film has a score of 63 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[78] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+", the only film in the Harry Potter series to receive such grade.[79]

Roger Ebert gave The Chamber of Secrets 4 out of 4 stars, especially praising the set design.[80] 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".[81] 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".[82] 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.[83] 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".[8]

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".[84] 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".[85]

Chamber of Secrets was nominated for three BAFTA Awards: Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Special Visual Effects.[86] The film was also nominated for six Saturn Awards.[87] It received two nominations at the inaugural Visual Effects Society Awards.[88] The Broadcast Film Critics Association granted it the Best Family Film and Best Composer awards,[89] and nominated it for Best Digital Acting Performance (for Toby Jones).[90]