Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
2001 · 152 min
Directed by Chris Columbus. Written by J. K. Rowling, Steve Kloves. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris.
Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school's kindly headmaster, Harry uncovers the truth about his parents' deaths—and about the villain who's to blame.
Critics 80% · audiences 82% · streaming on fuboTV, HBO Max, Peacock · $318 million in the US and Canada on its first run · $657 million elsewhere · about 56 million tickets sold, 20% of the country · 3 Oscar nominations
What they said about Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- 2001
overly insistent score lacks subtlety and bludgeons us with crescendos
— Jeanne Aufmuth, Palo Alto Online - 2001
a great clanging, banging music box that simply will not shut up.
— Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter - 2001
The script is faithful, the actors are just right, the sets, costumes, makeup and effects match and sometimes exceed anything one could imagine.
— Todd McCarthy, Variety - 2001
a theme park that's a few years past its prime; the rides clatter and groan with metal fatigue every time they take a curve.
— Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times - 2001
isn't perfect, but for me it's a nice supplement to a book series that I love
— Brian Linder - 2001
ultimately many of the book's readers may wish for a more magical incarnation.
— Palo Alto Online
How it got made
In 1997, producer David Heyman searched for a children's book that could be adapted into a well-received film. He had planned to produce Diana Wynne Jones' novel The Ogre Downstairs, but his plans fell through. His assistant at Heyday Films then suggested Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which she believed was "a cool idea." Although originally not liking the title, Heyman read the novel and "fell in love" with it. Following the publication of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 1998, Heyman pitched the novels to Warner Bros. Pictures and, in 1999, author J. K. Rowling sold the company the rights to the first four Harry Potter books for a reported £1million. A demand Rowling made was for Heyman to keep the cast strictly British and Irish; the latter's case has Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore and Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley, and not to cast foreign actors unless absolutely necessary, like casting of French and Eastern European actors in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) where characters from the book are specified as such. Rowling was hesitant to sell the rights because she "didn't want to give them control over the rest of the story" by selling the rights to the characters, which would have enabled Warner Bros. to make non-author-written sequels.
Although filmmaker Steven Spielberg initially negotiated to direct the film and developed a second draft of the script with screenwriter Steven Kloves, he eventually left the project. Spielberg reportedly wanted the adaptation to be an animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation that incorporated elements from subsequent books as well, with American actor Haley Joel Osment to provide Harry Potter's voice. While developing the film, Spielberg suggested Harris, Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane to be cast. He later contended that, in his opinion, it was like "shooting ducks in a barrel. It's just a slam dunk. It's just like withdrawing a billion dollars and putting it into your personal bank accounts. There's no challenge". Rowling maintains that she had no role in choosing directors for the films and that "[a]nyone who thinks I could (or would) have 'veto-ed' him [Spielberg] needs their Quick-Quotes Quill serviced". Heyman recalled that Spielberg decided to direct A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) instead. In a 2023 interview, Spielberg stated that he turned down the project so he could spend time with his family.
After Spielberg left, talks began with other directors, including Chris Columbus, Jonathan Demme, Baz Luhrmann, David Fincher, Terry Gilliam, Mike Newell (who would later direct the Goblet of Fire), Alan Parker, Wolfgang Petersen, Rob Reiner, Ivan Reitman, Tim Robbins, Brad Silberling, Ron Howard, M. Night Shyamalan and Peter Weir. Shyamalan declined as he already working on Signs (2002). Petersen and Reiner both pulled out of the running in March 2000, and the choice was narrowed down to Silberling, Columbus, Parker and Gilliam.
At the box office
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone grossed a record single day gross of £3.6million during the first day of previews, beating Toy Story 2s record. It grossed a record £3.1million for a Sunday, bringing its total to £6.7million from the previews. It broke the record for the highest-opening weekend ever, both including and excluding previews, making £16.3million with and £9.6million without previews ($13.8 million), setting a further record single day gross on the Saturday with £3.99million. It set another Sunday record with a gross of £3.6million. It had a record second weekend of £8.4 million. It remained at number one in the UK for five weeks. The film went on to make £66.1million in the UK alone, making it the country's second-highest-grossing film of all-time (after Titanic), until it was surpassed by Mamma Mia!.
In the United States and Canada, it made $32.3million on its opening day, breaking the single-day record previously held by Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). On the second day of release, the film's gross increased to $33.5million, breaking the record for biggest single day again. It made $90.3million during its first weekend, breaking the record for highest-opening weekend of all time that was previously held by The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). It held the record until the following May when Spider-Man (2002) made $114.8million in its opening weekend. Plus, the film broke Batman Forevers record for having the largest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. Pictures film. It would hold this record for two years until it was surpassed by The Matrix Reloaded (2003). Additionally, it shattered other opening records, surpassing Monsters, Inc. for having the biggest November opening weekend, Planet of the Apes for having the largest non-holiday opening weekend, the highest Friday gross and the biggest opening weekend of the year, The Mummy Returns for scoring the highest Saturday gross, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) for having the highest opening weekend for a Chris Columbus film and Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) for having the largest number of screenings, playing at 3,672 theaters. In just five days, it became the fastest film to approach the $100million mark. The film grossed $2.3 million in its first two days in Taiwan, giving it a worldwide opening weekend total of $107 million. The film held onto the number 1 spot at the US box office for three consecutive weekends before getting overtaken by Ocean's Eleven. The film also had the highest-grossing 5-day (Wednesday-Sunday) Thanksgiving weekend record of $82.4million, holding the title for twelve years until both The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) and Frozen (2013) surpassed it with $110.1million and $94million respectively. By Christmas, it went on to become the highest-grossing film of the year, dethroning Shrek.
Similar results were achieved across the world. A week after opening in the United States, the film added 15 additional markets and set an opening week record in Germany, grossing $18.7 million. It also set opening records in Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and German-speaking Switzerland. In the following weekend, after expanding to 31 countries, the film set a record overseas weekend gross of $60.9 million, including record openings in Australia, Greece, Israel, Japan ($12.5 million), New Zealand and Spain. It set another overseas weekend record with $62.3 million from 37 countries the following weekend, including record openings in France, Italy and French-speaking Switzerland. The international opening weekend record would be held for a year until it was given to Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002). During its theatrical run, the film earned $974million at the worldwide box office, $317million of that in the US and $657million elsewhere, which made it the second-highest-grossing film in history at the time, as well as the year's highest-grossing film. In addition, it went on to become the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of all time, surpassing Batman (1989) domestically and Twister (1996) worldwide. It is the second-highest-grossing Harry Potter film after Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 55.9million tickets in the US and Canada.