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Well into "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Albus Dumbledore intones as only he can: "Dark and difficult times lie ahead." What does he think lay behind?

In this adventure Harry will do battle with giant lizards, face the attack of the Death Eaters, and in perhaps the most difficult task of all for a 14-year-old, ask a girl to be his date at the Yule Ball.

That Harry survives these challenges goes without saying, since in the world of print his next adventures have already been published, but "Goblet of Fire" provides trials that stretch his powers to the breaking point.

Harry ( Daniel Radcliffe ) was just turning 13 in the previous movie, " Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban " (2004), and the Potter series turns PG-13 with this installment. There is still at least a mail-owl, and what looks like a mail-raven (it may represent FedEx), but many of the twee touches of the earlier films have gone missing to make room for a brawnier, scarier plot. Is it fair to wonder if the series will continue to grow up with Harry, earning the R rating as he turns 17?

Certainly Lord Voldemort seems capable of limitless villainy. Although we glimpsed his face in "The Sorcerer's Stone," we see him in full on screen for the first time in "Goblet of Fire," and he does not disappoint: Hairless, with the complexion of a slug, his nostrils snaky slits in his face, he's played by Ralph Fiennes as a vile creature who has at last been rejoined by his Death Eaters, who were disabled by Harry's magic earlier in the series. Hogwarts School and indeed the entire structure of Harry's world is threatened by Voldemort's return to something approaching his potential powers, and the film becomes a struggle between the civilized traditions of the school and the dark void of Voldemortism.

The film is more violent, less cute than the others, but the action is not the mindless destruction of a video game; it has purpose, shape and style, as in the Triwizard Tournament, which begins the film. Three finalists are chosen by the Goblet of Fire, and then the Goblet spits out an unprecedented fourth name: Harry Potter's. This is against the rules, since you have to be 17 to compete in Triwizardry, and Harry is only 14, but Dumbledore's hands are tied: What the Goblet wants, the Goblet gets. The question is, who entered Harry's name, since Harry says he didn't?

The Triwizard Tournament begins near the start of the film, but after the Quidditch World Cup, which takes place within a stadium so vast it makes the Senate Chamber in "Star Wars" look like a dinner theater. The cup finals are interrupted by ominous portents; the Death Eaters attack, serving notice that Voldemort is back and means business. But the early skirmishes are repelled, and the students return to Hogwarts, joined by exchange students from two overseas magic academies: From France come the Beauxbaton girls, who march on parade like Bemelmans' maids all in a row, and from Durmstrang school in central Europe come clean-cut Aryan lads who look like extras from " Triumph of the Will ."

Besides Harry, Cedric Diggory is the Triwizard contestant from Hogwarts, and the other finalists are Viktor Krum, a Quidditch master from Durmstrang who looks ready to go pro, and the lithe Fleur Delacour, a Beauxbaton siren. Together they face three challenges: They must conquer fire-breathing dragons, rescue captives in a dark lagoon and enter a maze, which, seen from the air, seems limitless. The maze contains a threat for Harry that I am not sure is anticipated by the Triwizard rules; within it waits Voldemort himself, who has been lurking offstage and now emerges in malevolent fury.

Against these trials, which are enough to put you off your homework, Harry also must negotiate his fourth year at Hogwarts. As usual, there is a bizarre new teacher on the faculty. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody ( Brendan Gleeson ) is the new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and seems made of spare parts; he has an artificial limb, and a glass eye that incorporates a zoom lens and can swivel independently of his real eye.

There is also, finally, full-blown adolescence to contend with. I'd always thought Harry would end up in love with Hermione Granger ( Emma Watson ), even though their inseparable friend Ron Weasley ( Rupert Grint ) clearly has the same ambition. But for the Yule Ball, Harry works up the courage to ask Cho Chang (Katie Leung), who likes him a lot. Ron asks Hermione, but she already has a date, with the student most calculated to inspire Ron's jealousy. These scenes seem almost in the spirit of John Hughes' high school movies.

Most of the Potter series regulars are back, if only for brief scenes, and it is good to see the gamekeeper Hagrid ( Robbie Coltrane ) find love at last, with Madame Maxime (Frances de la Tour), headmistress of Beauxbaton. Hagrid, you will recall, is a hairy half-giant. Frances is even taller, but she's a mercifully less hairy giantess. One new character is the snoopy Rita Skeeter ( Miranda Richardson ), gossip columnist of the Daily Prophet, a paper that has pictures that talk, like the portraits in earlier films.

With this fourth film, the Harry Potter saga demonstrates more than ever the resiliency of J.K. Rowling's original invention. Her novels have created a world that can expand indefinitely and produce new characters without limit. That there are schools like Hogwarts in other countries comes as news and offers many possibilities; the only barrier to the series lasting forever is Harry's inexorably advancing age. The thought of him returning to Hogwarts for old boys' day is too depressing to contemplate.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was directed by Mike Newell , the first British director in the series (he turned down the first Potter movie). Newell's credits range from the romantic "Four Weddings and a Funeral" to the devastating " Donnie Brasco " to the gentle "Enchanted April."

Such varied notes serve him well in "Goblet," which explores a wide emotional range. He balances delicately between whimsy and the ominous, on the uncertain middle ground where Harry lives, poised between fun at school, teenage romance and the dark abyss.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images

157 minutes

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter

Emma Watson as Hermione Granger

Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley

Michael Gambon as Dumbledore

Brendan Gleeson as Alastor Moody

Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid

Based on the novel by

• J.K. Rowling

Directed by

• Mike Newell
• Steve Kloves

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Harry potter and the goblet of fire, common sense media reviewers.

Excellent, but magical adventures getting edgier, darker.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

In the ongoing story about good and evil, Harry le

Harry and his friends demonstrate courage, perseve

Hermione's independence and complexity as a strong

Two deaths, including one very stirring death of a

Some references to 14-year-olds' sexual interest;

"Bloody hell," "piss off," and similar words.

While Harry Potter merchandise proliferates in the

Madame Maxime's horses only drink single-malt whis

Parents need to know that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the first PG-13 movie in the Harry Potter series (all based on the books by J.K. Rowling), and not for nothing. The fourth installment has two deaths (including a really sad one), scary creatures, some romantic yearnings, and edge-of-the-seat…

Positive Messages

In the ongoing story about good and evil, Harry learns important life lessons in the wake of tragedy. Honesty and integrity are repeatedly at stake. Friendship, love, bravery, and loyalty are always major themes in the series, as is the idea of making good choices.

Positive Role Models

Harry and his friends demonstrate courage, perseverance, and teamwork. Harry, in particular, learns the value of integrity and playing fairly. He remains humble, even in the face of his newfound celebrity.

Diverse Representations

Hermione's independence and complexity as a strong female character continue to grow with age. Cho Chang, a British Asian character, is introduced as Harry's love interest. In minor roles, two girls of South Asian descent, sisters Parvati and Padma Patil, are invited by Harry and Ron to the Yule Ball; Angelina Johnson, a Black female student, accepts Fred Weasley's invitation; and Dean Thomas, another Black student, appears without lines. Early in the film, the Quidditch World Cup introduces audiences to the concept of a global wizarding world that includes a delegation of Black wizards dressed in African robes, but the background characters don't speak.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Two deaths, including one very stirring death of a teen. No blood is shown, but lifeless bodies are. Children are in peril, often at the hands of magical creatures: dragons burn, chase, and cut Triwizard competitors; mermaids brandish spears as students are held captive underwater. A spider is tortured in a class demonstration. A hand is severed and sacrificed, and Harry is tortured by a curse, writhing in pain.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some references to 14-year-olds' sexual interest; Harry is accosted in the bathtub by a ghostly girl; some couples kiss in the shadows after the Yule Ball.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

While Harry Potter merchandise proliferates in the real world, the film only shows characters occasionally spending money. The importance of fashion briefly comes into play as the students get ready for the Yule Ball.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Madame Maxime's horses only drink single-malt whiskey. Students drink butterbeer -- a magical-world drink with a pinch of alcohol.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the first PG-13 movie in the Harry Potter series (all based on the books by J.K. Rowling), and not for nothing. The fourth installment has two deaths (including a really sad one), scary creatures, some romantic yearnings, and edge-of-the-seat scenes. With each film, the scariness quotient increases. This movie features fighting dragons, tortured bugs, a huge booby-trapped maze, and an underwater horror show. Young kids who don't understand the difference between fantasy and reality should stay clear. So should kids going through an anxious time about unnamed terrors or unwanted separations, as one of the death scenes may be extra upsetting. The action is sometimes rowdy, and camera movements/edits are aggressive, all of which increase the scary effects. Romantic tensions ramp up in this installment. Characters demonstrate courage , perseverance , and teamwork , as well as humility and integrity . In addition, friendship, love, bravery, and loyalty are always major themes in the series, as is the idea of making good choices. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (52)
• Kids say (338)

Based on 52 parent reviews

Really good movie for kids who can handle it

Good summary of the book, starts the transition to more tween topics, what's the story.

In HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, Harry ( Daniel Radcliffe ) and friends are 14 now and growing up fast, having crushes, and realizing what huge expectations the wizarding world has for them during dangerous times. This year, Hogwarts hosts guests from two other schools -- Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute -- for the Triwizard Tournament. The Tournament contestants are selected by the magical Goblet of Fire; they must fight dragons, figure out a dangerous underwater rescue, and find their way out of a dangerous maze. But Harry is on his own against his true enemy.

Is It Any Good?

​​The fourth film in the Harry Potter series tends to move steadily from plot point to plot point, ensuring that each beloved character from the novel gets at least a brief moment on screen. When Harry, Hermione ( Emma Watson ), and Ron ( Rupert Grint ) attend the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , they witness the full-on effects of sports celebrity: Fans cheer and stomp their feet, and magical images of the players shimmer over the crowd. The fact that the World Cup site is destroyed by Lord Voldemort's ( Ralph Fiennes ) Death Eaters hardly brings pause.

The Triwizard Tournament extends the movie's thematic interest in celebrity. In due course, Harry is exposed to cheating (by adult coaches who mean for their charges to win) and not a little bit of emotional and physical abuse. The movie makes us ask whether 14- or 17-year-old kids should have to be warriors and survivors. Harry and his friends must undergo pain, work through fear, and even decide whether to fight back or inflict pain. Growing up is a difficult transition on-screen or off, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire makes being a teen look pretty unpleasant. That being said, this film is as good as the others in the series, and kids old enough to handle the scary elements will surely enjoy it.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 's more mature content and who this movie is targeted to. Young kids are going to want to see this -- should the movie have been toned down, or is the violent content appropriate given the characters' age?

For kids who read the book the film is based on , which plot points got left out that you missed? Why do you think they left out the house elves? What role did they serve in the books?

Cheating is rampant among the teachers and judges involved in the Triwizard competition, but not among the competitors. Why do you think this is? How do Harry's actions reveal his integrity ?

Between famous Quidditch players and the Triwizard Tournament participants, celebrity culture creeps into the wizarding world. How does Harry react to his fame? Does he remain humble ?

How do the characters in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire demonstrate courage , perseverance , and teamwork ? Why are these important character strengths ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 18, 2005
• On DVD or streaming : March 7, 2006
• Cast : Daniel Radcliffe , Emma Watson , Rupert Grint
• Director : Mike Newell
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Fantasy
• Topics : Magic and Fantasy
• Character Strengths : Courage , Humility , Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
• Run time : 156 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.
• Last updated : March 13, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Reviews

[Director Mike] Newell brings a distinctively British sense of low key, wry humor to the spectacle without losing the increasingly serious dimensions of the drama, and he brings out marvelous shades of personality from our evolving young heroes.

Full Review | Jan 6, 2024

...a woefully uneven installment that feels, for the most part, as though it should be a good hour shorter...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 13, 2021

It's increasingly evident that seven books and as many as eight theatrical adaptations fuel the need for too much filler subplots or nonessential side characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 29, 2020

More precious than a Golden Snitch in a game of Quidditch, this is one of the Must See films of the year.

Full Review | Nov 13, 2019

Good film directed for a teenage audience in which not only is magic taught but also how stereotypes affect it while the film itself recreates some British stereotypes. [Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 11, 2019

For the first time, the stakes of this battle of good and evil become painfully evident.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 5, 2019

It feels rushed and there are definitely the most plotholes in this entry in the series. Still, when it does work it really works.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Apr 4, 2019

Goblet of Fire is great, very watchable and re-watchable.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2018

Where Newell really scores is in taking a leaf out of Peter Jackson's book and cranking up the fear factor.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 8, 2014

For those like me who are outside but sympathetic to the faith, it looks like another handsomely made, good-natured and high-spirited family movie, which is dramatically stymied through being locked within school grounds.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 8, 2014

For the first time, adults might actually enjoy a Harry Potter film as much as children.

Full Review | Dec 8, 2014

Goblet is really just a glorified, 157-minute teaser trailer, an empty epic of proportions that truly stagger.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Dec 8, 2014

The adolescent subplot is treated sweetly by Newell. The awkward dances and dating faux pas at the school ball feel like additions from some other, less mythic series, and form a welcome respite from the intense magic-making of the rest of the film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 8, 2014

Much of the credit goes to Radcliffe and his co-stars, who have become better actors with each film. They have become increasingly adept at conveying great emotion as each film demands more of them.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 8, 2014

I think this is the best Potter film yet, for one simple reason: it's not like a Harry Potter film.

In its last third, The Goblet of Fire builds to a climax of such overpowering dread that you might just forget the rest. Harry grows up in an instant, and the film does, too.

The acting is stronger than ever in this fourth installment.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 8, 2014

By demonstrating to us how Harry and his friends are budding and changing and struggling, the film demonstrates the progressive richness of Rowling's storytelling skills and oddly haunting allure of her writing.

All in all, Goblet of Fire is certainly the best Potter yet, with most of the cast doing their roles justice, some great direction and Steven Kloves' screenplay makes the core of Rowling's novel into a fast-paced but easily-comprehensible enjoyable movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 8, 2014

Kloves has streamlined J. K. Rowling's 700-plus-page opus into cinematic fighting form. And the special effects, which threatened to overwhelm the first two movies, are seamlessly integrated.

From the Archives: ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ finally gets Harry Potter right

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Today marks the 20th anniversary of the first book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. From our archives, we’re resurfacing The Times’ original reviews of each Harry Potter film adaptation. The following review of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was first published on Nov. 19, 2005.

It’s taken them long enough, but the movies have finally gotten Harry Potter right. Despite the reported $2.7 billion earned by the series’ three previous attempts, it’s not until “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” that a film has successfully re-created the sense of stirring magical adventure and engaged, edge-of-your-seat excitement that has made the books such an international phenomenon.

Viewed as a whole, the Potter movies are shaping up to be a fascinating experiment in big-budget filmmaking. Using the same J.K. Rowling source material, the same screenwriter (the excellent Steve Kloves), largely the same cast but a variety of directors, the Potter pictures have ended up reflecting the sensibility of their filmmaker more than that of the author.

MORE: Every ‘Harry Potter’ movie review »

With the reliably commercial Chris Columbus in charge, the first two Potters were soulless but safe-as-houses copies of the books.

The gifted Alfonso Cuaron attempted to escape the bonds of the conventional in “The Prisoner of Azkaban” but succeeded only in part.

It has fallen to the veteran Mike Newell, eager, in his own words, “to break out of this goody-two-shoes feel,” to make the first Harry Potter film to be wire-to-wire satisfying.

Newell is an impeccable craftsman with four decades of cinematic experience, a veteran less concerned with projecting a lofty auteur sensibility than giving the best of his films, from the chilling “Dance With a Stranger” to the comic “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” what they need from a practical point of view.

The first thing the Hertfordshire-born Newell has added to the mix is a welcome sense of ownership of the book’s setting. Having been a boarding school boy himself, Newell, the series’ first British director, displays a comfort level with the world of Hogwarts that comes with knowing it in his bones.

Newell works equally well with the preexisting cast and the film’s new British actors, principally a convincing Ralph Fiennes as the dread Lord Voldemort, a comic Miranda Richardson as weaselly journalist Rita Skeeter and, best of all, Brendan Gleeson as the irrepressible Mad-Eye Moody, the latest in Hogwarts’ notably eccentric series of Defense Against the Dark Arts instructors.

The presence of Voldemort in the creepy-crawly flesh signals that this is the first Potter movie to have a PG-13 rating for “sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.” Fortunately, “Goblet” is not an R-rated movie trying to pass as something tamer but a genuine PG-13, pleasantly shivery but in no way savage or sadistic.

Newell also proves to be adept at bringing a feeling of page- turning propulsion to a grittier than usual narrative that, courtesy of one of the series’ better plots, is rife with convincing jeopardy situations.

The danger starts at the Quidditch World Cup, where the festivities are marred by rioting by Voldemort’s Death Eaters and the appearance of his Dark Mark in the sky.

That Quidditch match, the 422nd to be exact, is also the first tipoff as to how special “Goblet’s” special effects are going to be. The enormous stadium where the match is held seems appropriately both in and out of this world, and it sets the stage for a series of magical moments -- including the magnificent Durmstrang sailing ship rising out of the lake and the dozen winged horses drawing the gigantic Beauxbatons carriage -- that are to come.

When Harry says “I love magic,” we can see just what he’s talking about.

The wizarding schools arriving by ship and coach have come to Hogwarts for the legendary Triwizard Tournament -- “eternal glory awaits the winner,” promises headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) - - that is the spine of “Goblet’s” plot and the excuse for considerable amounts of magic and excitement.

Through a series of unlikely events, Harry gets to participate in the tournament and has to contend with a trio of exceptionally daunting tasks. The young wizard has to perform heroically underwater, deal with a claustrophobic, mind-altering maze and evade a terrifying Hungarian Horntail dragon so realistic that the film’s “No dragons were harmed in the making of this film” disclaimer in the closing credits seems more valid than tongue-in-cheek.

“Goblet of Fire” was the first Potter novel to weigh in at the whopping 600-page-plus length that has become standard, and though many events have been eliminated, including those always irritating house elves, “Goblet” the film is still longer than it should be at two hours and 34 minutes.

Ripe for cutting is the picture’s weakest element, its exploration of the agonies of early teen dating and friendship. The film’s heart simply is not in questions like how long Ron (Rupert Grint) and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) will stay mad at each other, and a little romantic awkwardness among 14-year-olds goes an awfully long way.

This is especially true because Emma Watson’s Hermione has grown into easily the most attractive student on campus, so far removed from the books’ insistence that she is a plain and bossy girl that it makes a complete hash of the sections of the plot dealing with her social life.

Though memorable acting is neither called for nor delivered on the part of “Goblet’s” collection of juveniles, Radcliffe’s Harry does get one thing exactly right. Watching him face myriad challenges, we’re convinced that Harry’s heart will lead him to do the right thing. He does good in the most natural way and, like so much of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” that’s just how it should be.

‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’

MPAA rating : PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images

Times guidelines : Chilling at times, but not in a bad way

More “Harry Potter” film reviews from the archives:

‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ can’t shake an episodic feeling

‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ is well-crafted but sometimes hard to endure

‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1’ delivers more of the same for series fans

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Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire Review

18 Nov 2005

157 minutes

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

The fourth offering in the Harry Potter franchise sees The Boy Who Lived and his chums trying to get through another year at the increasingly dangerous Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry. This means, as ever, secrets and treachery within, hostilities with classmates and life-threatening magical sports days. New to the mix is the embarrassing reality of tortured adolescence, with sexual awakenings and brooding mood-swings exacerbated by the added distraction of glamorous foreign exchange students. Making quite the grand entrance are the chic girls of Beauxbatons Academy and the hunky boys of Durmstrang Institute. Welcome to Harry Potter And The Rampaging Hormones.

This is certainly not a movie for young children, however engaging its characters and comic touches. Teen angst and relationship problems are pretty boring if you’re six. But it’s not the burgeoning sexuality that’s landed the picture its 12A certificate, rather its genuinely darker vein of fantasy horror. For the maturing Potter core audience this is well-developed, with teasing terrors and skin-crawling set-pieces as the dark Lord Voldemort rises again — as all dark lords must, it seems, DLs notoriously being even harder to kill totally dead than the nut-job in Halloween. (Quite why Lord V. is so preoccupied with plotting against the promising pipsqueak Harry is presumably something to be clarified for cinema audiences in the fullness of time.)

Mike Newell, as the first British director entrusted with a series entry, oversees plenty of spiffing special-effects action — the Quidditch World Cup final, a dragon fight, an underwater sequence and Gary Oldman’s (all-too-brief) fiery apparition — but as one would expect, he does a good job with the more personal, realistic emotional content, bringing on the young leads’ performances noticeably in the process. So it’s a shame that he’s less successful in handling the necessary novel-to-screen compression.

Even though Newell’s adaptation runs to more than two-and-a-half hours, the book is such a doorstopper that screenwriter Steve Kloves had to ditch more material this time around. Harry’s annual confinement with his ghastly Dursley relations and Hermione’s house-elf-liberation campaign is gone. While he was at it, it’s a pity he didn’t also delete tabloid hackette Rita Skeeter — however much one likes Miranda Richardson — since she obviously functions as author J. K. Rowling’s dig at celebrity-stalking gossips, adding nothing more than running-time the story doesn’t need.

As it is, there’s too much contrasting material with which to contend: the life-or-death challenges of the Triwizard competition are interspersed with a host of new characters and their sinister or serio-comic sub-plots, school lessons, the agenda of yet another eccentric new Defence Against The Dark Arts professor in Brendan Gleeson’s fierce Mad-Eye Moody, Potter sidekick Ron’s sulks, swotty Hermione’s makeover and Harry’s blushing attempts to ask a girl to a dance…

Consequently, the story editing goes through some distinctly choppy patches. It looks as if several scenes were filmed at greater length, surviving in quick snippets that are frequently unnecessary. The movie Newell set out to make — eccentric comedy-cum-Hitchcockian conspiracy — can only be glimpsed briefly, before that beast of a plot charges back into shot, demanding attention.

Thankfully, most of it is pulled together towards the end. It’s no secret that Ralph Fiennes handles the long-awaited appearance of evil Voldemort himself, and thankfully his big scene is sensationally creepy, ensuring strong anticipation for frights to come.

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• DVD & Streaming

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

• Action/Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter; Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley; Emma Watson as Hermione Granger; Michael Gambon as Dumbledore; Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody; Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid; Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort; Maggie Smith as Prof. McGonagall; Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter; Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory

Home Release Date

• Mike Newell

Distributor

• Warner Bros.

Movie Review

That pesky scar. As 14-year-old wizard-in-training Harry Potter prepares for his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he is plagued by nightmares of the dark lord who killed his parents and left that nasty, increasingly painful lightning-bolt scar on his forehead. In those tormented dreams Harry sees the diminished Lord Voldemort plotting with his evil minions. Their goal: Restore Voldemort’s former power and finish off the boy wizard once and for all.

The first sign that something is amiss occurs during the selection process for the prestigious Triwizard Tournament. A student from each of three European schools of witchcraft gets to compete in its celebrated, perilous games. No one under 17 is eligible. After the lucky trio is formally announced with much fanfare, the crowd is shocked when a fourth name emerges from the mystical goblet of fire: Harry Potter . An outrage! Did he cheat? Is this a vain grab for glory? His peers think so, which makes Harry an outcast even in the eyes of his best friend, Ron Weasley. Regardless of how his name was illegally manipulated into the giant chalice, the flaming goblet’s word is final and soon a reluctant Harry Potter finds himself risking life and limb for “eternal glory” against older, far more skilled wizards.

Lined up for Harry in Goblet of Fire are angry merfolk, a fire-breathing dragon and a killer hedgerow manicured into an enormous maze. There’s also a climactic showdown with Voldemort in the flesh. However, none of those trials compares to Harry’s most daunting challenge—finding a date for the Yule Ball. Yes, they’ve finally reached that age. In addition to spells, spills and thrills, this fourth and darkest chapter (so far) in J.K. Rowling’s bewitching saga finds friends Harry, Ron and Hermione facing off against hormones and all of the awkwardness and angst that comes with adolescence.

Positive Elements

Harry proves himself virtuous by putting the welfare of others ahead of his own glory and safety. Despite the psychological fog induced by the maze, Harry is clear-headed enough to rescue a fallen competitor rather than let him perish. He then insists they share the prize. His underwater heroics save a girl’s life at personal expense, and the tournament committee sees fit to honor his selflessness with a reward for “outstanding moral fiber.”

In spite of conflict and misunderstandings, loyal friends stand by one another. Hermione boldly speaks out on behalf of a classmate in crisis. The Weasleys are a close-knit clan generous to Ron’s friends. A fallen student is honored for being kind, honest, brave and true. Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore calls for unity, friendship and cooperation among students from different schools and cultures. Viewers are reminded of how Harry’s mother sacrificially gave her life to save him as a baby.

It is deemed unlawful to use three “unforgivable curses” designed to control, torture or kill.

Spiritual Elements

Without magic and the occult there is no story. Supernatural goings-on inhabit every corner of the film. Harry and others fly on brooms, wield magic wands and utter incantations. Humans are transformed into animals and “hybrids.” Words recited skyward cause clouds to form dark, foreboding symbols. Objects are endowed with the ability to transport anyone touching them from one place to another.

While navigating the hedge maze, a competitor is “bewitched.” Harry has an encounter with Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of a student murdered in the girl’s restroom. A disturbing scene in a graveyard finds one of Voldemort’s toadies tossing the shriveled wizard into a cauldron before adding other ingredients (including his own hand) that fuel a macabre transformation. The spirits of Voldemort’s most recent kills appear to Harry and talk to him.

Sexual Content

Young men and women are flush with a newfound awareness of the opposite sex, though their interaction remains innocent. Still, the camera lingers on a group of girls’ backsides wiggling in unison. While dancing with a woman, Hagrid’s hand wanders south of her waist (she is quick to move it back).

A giggling female ghost makes a game out of trying to see Harry naked through the suds of his bath. Hermione backpedals after describing her reticent new boyfriend to Harry as more of a “physical being,” leaving viewers with no reason to think the couple has gone very far, physically.

Violent Content

A student is killed by a blast from a wand. So is an old man unfortunate enough to be caught eavesdropping on Voldemort’s plans. An evil servant cuts off his own hand and draws blood from Harry’s arm to cast a spell. A high-ranking official is found dead.

Voldemort assaults Harry, both verbally and with powerful magic. The Death Eaters, a sinister, Klan-like group with pointy black hats, crash the Quidditch World Cup event, creating chaos and decimating a campground by hurling fireballs (Harry gets knocked unconscious). A fire-breathing dragon knocks Harry about, chases him through the air and stalks him on a rooftop before it plummets into a chasm. During an underwater trial, Potter is accosted by octopus-like creatures that nearly drown him. And he’s bitten on the hand by an owl and a bowlful of squirming “snacks.”

A boy possessed by an evil spirit attacks an opponent who is then entangled by vines and dragged into the maze wall. The walls also threaten to crush people. Roots erupt and wrap themselves around another boy whose life is saved at the last minute.

Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, Hogwarts’ latest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, casts torturous spells on a bug before killing it. Professor Snape whacks disruptive boys over the head with a book.

Crude or Profane Language

Ron has the habit of saying “bloody h—” and angrily tells Harry to “p-ss off.” A student exclaims “oh my god.” Harry uses the phrase “I don’t give a d–n.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Mad-Eye’s desperate sips from a flask turn out to be doses of a potion, though for most of the film we’re led to believe he’s drinking alcohol. A visiting headmistress notes that her carriage horses drink only malt whiskey.

Other Negative Elements

The audience is made to feel good about Mad-Eye’s pragmatic disregard for rules and protocol. Some images (skulls, serpents, headstones, etc.) may not be spiritual or violent per se, but they convey an aura of wickedness and death.

Although I’m not a big Harry Potter fan, I can’t question this film’s quality on an artistic level. The production values are amazing. The architecture and fantastic European locales are Gothic yet charming. Central characters grow in interesting ways, while newly introduced ones—notably Miranda Richardson’s gossip columnist and Brendan Gleeson’s pirate-like professor with a goofy, roving artificial eye—are quirky and energetic. First-time Potter director Mike Newell had hard choices to make about what parts of the mammoth book to leave out ( Goblet still clocks in at two-and-a-half hours) yet manages to create a cohesive product, and does a good job of marrying the story’s bustling action with quieter moments of coming-of-age teen turmoil.

Nevertheless, no matter how skillfully the story gets told or how selfless, ethical and heroic Harry may be, it’s impossible for me to invest myself in a series that glamorizes witchcraft. It’s easy to laugh when spineless bully Draco gets turned into a ferret. But it gets harder to make light of the sorcery when a potion requires that a man hack off his own hand, borrow a bone from a rotting corpse and drain blood from Harry’s arm.

Whether it’s grim treachery or comic relief, the film’s wall-to-wall sorcery is birthed from a faulty worldview that taps into the occult and never recognizes any divine authority. Unlike The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia , the entire series is built on a shaky spiritual foundation that sends young fans confusing messages about the morality and merits of the dark arts.

Of course, this is film four. Families that consider the supernatural sinew that binds Harry Potter together more trouble than it’s worth probably put the kibosh on it a long time ago. The ones still with it have decided either a) sorcery isn’t a big deal, or b) while they oppose real-life witchcraft, non-stop spells and incantations are acceptable when used as a literary device.

Even those in the “go with it” camp may find their patience tested with Goblet of Fire, the first film to warrant a PG-13 rating. It’s extremely grim at times and even features the death of a Hogwarts student. I was amazed at the number of small children seated around me in the theater. At what point will moms and dads who’ve been saying “yes” to voracious young Potter fans decide that things have gone too far? This could be it. Dumbledore warns Harry, “Soon we must face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” They’re not the only ones.

Bob Smithouser

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (United States/United Kingdom, 2005)

The best thing to happen to the Harry Potter movie franchise was for journeyman director Chris Columbus to step down. After turning out adequate adaptations of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Columbus was replaced by Alfonso Cuarón for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . With the third movie, the Harry Potter saga began to take on a legitimate cinematic life of its own. No longer was it content to regurgitate to content of the source novels. Now, with Mike Newell ( Four Weddings and a Funeral ) at the helm, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire proves to be the darkest and most ambitious Harry Potter outing to-date. To trim the book's massive content down to a reasonable size (the movie is about 2 1/2 hours long, sans credits), screenwriter Steve Kloves (who has adapted all four novels) had to do a lot of compression. The resulting production is faithful to its source novel in broad strokes, but varies greatly when it comes to the details.

The "regulars" are all back - a year older and a little wiser. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is having strange dreams and he worries that his arch-enemy, Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), may be planning a corporeal return. His friend Hermione (Emma Watson) is turning into a beautiful young woman and attracting a fair amount of male attention - a fact that has not escaped the green-eyed notice of Harry's other buddy, Ron (Rupert Grint). This year, the trio's fourth at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, there is to be a "Tri Wizard Tournament," in which champion wizards, one representing each of three different schools, compete against each other for victory. The champions are Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy), and Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski). Unexpectedly, a "wild card" is added: Harry Potter. The tournament challenges prove to be as potentially deadly as they are difficult, and Harry wonders if there are forces aligned against him in a conspiracy. The sides appear to be clearly defined: those who stand with Harry - Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), Prof. McGonagall (Maggie Smith), Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Prof. Moody (Brendan Gleeson) - and those who stand against him – Prof. Snape (Alan Rickman), Draco and Lucius Malfoy (Tom Felton and Jason Issacs), Wormtail (Timothy Spall), and Barry Crouch Jr. (David Tennant). Yet all may not be as it initially seems.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire contains good qualities and not-so-good ones, although the former greatly outnumber the latter. This is the best of the quartet of Harry Potter features, but it is not without flaws. This movie is more action-oriented than its predecessors, with several exciting sequences (most notably a battle with a dragon and an underwater skirmish with pissed-off mermaids), but I will admit to being let-down by the way in which the film culminates. As high points go, this one is anticlimactic. (This is a case of something working much better on the written page than on the screen.)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a dark, stylish motion picture. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is not as stylish, but is darker. Unlike the previous installment, this movie focuses primarily on the students, allowing many of the adults little more than walk-on cameos. (Alan Rickman's Professor Snape, for example, has only a handful of lines and is largely MIA.) The PG-13 rating is warranted. This is the movie in which the series transitions from something for kids to something for teenagers and young adults.

In developing the storyline, Kloves walked a tightrope. Certain apparent irrelevancies were retained in order to keep readers (who make up the majority of the film-going audience) happy. Additional cuts might have made for a tighter, better-paced movie, but a compromise had to be struck. The resulting movie occasionally drags, but it's not so protracted that the non-reader will become impatient. Some familiarity with the world of Harry Potter is necessary, either through the books or movies. As befits the fourth chapter of a longer saga, this is not a stand-alone episode.

With the exceptions of a Quiddich stadium and a dragon, the film is lean on splashy special effects. That's not to say CGI is used sparingly, but the film's look is less ostentatious than that of its predecessors. It's more intimate and real, and that enhances the immediacy of the menace. The black cloud hanging over Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has darkened and lowered for this installment. No doubt the storm will break in about two years, when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix reaches multiplexes.

For actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, this is an awkward time. Like their characters, they are struggling through the transition from childhood to young adulthood. None of these three is seasoned, and there are times when their performances betray their lack of experience. Nevertheless, acting limitations aside, Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint have become Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and it would be a shame to replace them for any reason, even if the replacements were more talented and skilled. If they are willing, let them stay until 2010 or 2011, when the final Harry Potter movie will reach the screen.

Of the returning adults, only Michael Gambon has too many lines to count. The others show up in a few scenes but are used primarily as background dressing. Brendan Gleeson plays Professor Alastor Moody, a new teacher. He has plenty of screen time, which allows us opportunities to stare at his free-floating left eyeball. Another newcomer is David Tennant (who recently landed the lead role in the BBC-TV revived series Doctor Who ), who gets to imitate a rabid dog in human form. Finally, there's Ralph Fiennes, whose Voldemort is surprisingly low key. I was disappointed by the way in which Fiennes chose to portray the evil wizard. Voldemort doesn't seem all that ominous. In fact, he seems a little boring. This may be the case of the henchmen being more sinister than the master.

Four down, three to go. With each new Harry Potter movie, the stakes are elevated. Director Mike Newell has given the series a fresh look without undoing the ground work established by his predecessors. In the realm of fantasy adventure, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a strong entry. Although the series as a whole falls short of what Peter Jackson achieved with The Lord of the Rings , it creeps closer with each new entry (of the four Harry Potter pictures, there hasn't yet been a weak one). And it won't be possible to assess the series as whole until all seven movies are available. Until then, let me write that Harry Potter has become a rare cinematic constant - something to be anticipated every year or two. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is imperfect, but magical nonetheless.

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Parent Guide

During his fourth year at Hogwarts School, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is mysteriously chosen to participate in the dangerous Tri-wizard Tournament. But the competition turns into more than just a game when the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his followers decide to play along.

Release date November 17, 2005

Run Time: 157 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by donna gustafson.

The game is afoot before Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) even enters Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his fourth year, because the wicked forces of Lord Voldemort have not paused for a summer vacation. Instead they’ve haunted Harry’s dreams and even hosted a fiery demonstration at the Quidditch World Cup Championships. Yet if the fourteen-year-old boy hopes things will settle down once he is within the walls of the ancient learning academy, he is about to be disappointed.

The new school term brings an exciting opportunity for Hogwarts to participate in a Triwizard Tournament by selecting one student representative to face off against competitors from two other magical institutions. It is a dangerous sport and only the oldest pupils are allowed to put their names forward. So when the Goblet of Fire , the enchanted object given the task of choosing the winning contestants, pulls from its blue flame a piece of parchment on which is scribbled “Harry Potter,” there are suspicions of interference from evil sources. The only way to know for sure however is to let the novice wizard play along—and hope he can discover (or at least out maneuver) any secret strategy.

The violence, which includes moments of peril throughout, depictions of injury and death, as well as the re-incarnation of you-know-who (Ralph Fiennes), will present the biggest content issues, although not the only ones. The movie also explores the boy-girl relationships of its adolescent cast. These portrayals are usually humorous (like the awkwardness of finding a date for the Yule Ball), and provide opportunities for some sexual innuendo (such as the sly comments made by a female ghost who interrupts Harry’s bath). The use of mild profanities appears to be part of the coming-of-age too.

None of this will surprise avid readers. Their chief concerns will be the impact of another new director (Mike Newell) and whether or not the screenwriter (Steve Kloves again) stays true to the original. These word-watchers should be happy to know that despite having to whittle down a 400-plus-page book into a two and a half hour script, their final adaptation looks as good as the pervious work done on this series. Nor will they be disappointed by the special effects which bring fire-breathing dragons, meddling mermaids, harassing hedges and cauldron concoctions frightfully to life. While the production is sometimes lacking in expressing the story’s more emotional elements, it captures most of the author’s magical imagination and should continue to charm Harry’s faithful following.

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Donna Gustafson

Harry potter and the goblet of fire rating & content info.

Why is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire rated PG-13? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.

This installment of Harry Potter is the darkest to grace the screen to date. Depictions of violence abound including: the death of characters, villainous Death Eaters causing destruction with fire, images of snakes and skulls, moments of peril, death threats, mentions of torture, a character having his hand cut off, and a knife wound that draws blood. Sexual content centers on noticing the opposite gender, inappropriate hand placement during a dance, as well as some wistful comments by a female ghost about seeing a bathing boy without obscuring bubbles. Also, there are several uses of mild profanities and a main character that constantly drinks from a flask.

Page last updated July 17, 2017

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Parents' Guide

Harry tends to procrastinate preparing for the challenges he will face in the Triwizard contest. How does this affect his confidence? What sources does he turn to in order to compensate for his lack of plan? What do you learn from his example?

Why does Harry appear to have less of a spirit of competition than the other contestants? What kind of impact does that have on the other participants? What things matter most to you?

The most recent home video release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie is March 7, 2006. Here are some details…

On November 8, 2011, Warner Bother’s studio is releasing: Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection (also known as Harry Potter- Years 1-7)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire comes in a variety of incantations. Potter fans can take their pick of wide or full screen versions, 2-disc Deluxe Editions, or an anthology of the first four films. If you are feeling just a little wicked, the single disc version will only provide you with the movie. But if you can conjure up a few more dollars, the double DVD will offer a cauldron’s worth of extras. These include additional scenes, interviews with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, as well as conversations with the cast and crew. You can also sneak a peek at Harry vs. the Horntail , In Too Deep , The Maze , Meet the Champions , He Who Must Not Be Named , and Preparing for the Yule Ball . Aspiring wizards can have a go at the Triwizard Tournament Challenges , Tournament and Voldemort features. Other DVD-ROM extras to check out are the EA Game Demo , Magical Trading Cards , Hogwarts Timeline , and web interactivity. Audio tracks are available in English (Dolby Digital 5.1) and Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), with subtitles in English, Spanish and French.

Related home video titles:

Follow Harry Potter’s other adventures in:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Movies in the series that follow this one include:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

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Goblet of Fire Review

Movie Review

By shmuel ross.

* Visit our Harry Potter Page for more news! *

November 18, 2005 marked the U.S. release of the fourth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This is the central installment of the seven-part series. The tone is darker than that of the previous films. Voldemort returns, and bad things happen to good people. There are also dragons. The dragons are scary, but they're also cool.

New Movie, New Director

The Harry Potter film series replaces directors almost as often as it replaces Defense Against the Dark Arts professors. This time, Mike Newell becomes the first British director of the bunch. Where the previous director, Alfonso Cuarón, gave Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban a more fanciful feel, departing from the book at whim, Newell grounds Goblet of Fire in its British boarding school setting, and mostly sticks to the text.

Newell does abridge a great deal, however. The book version of Prisoner of Azkaban is 435 pages. Goblet of Fire is 734. At one point, it was rumored that the book would have to be made into two films. Newell got it down to one by focusing on the Triwizard Tournament main plot and cutting most of the subplots. Hermione's quest to help house elves is gone; Dobby and Winky don't appear at all. Rita Skeeter's secret remains unrevealed. Fred and George get no further toward opening a joke shop.

Our Take on the Film

In the opinion of this reviewer, the cuts work. The film zips along, staying true to the story and keeping all the key points. There are lovely, if short, performances by Rita Skeeter (Miranda Richardson), Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), and the Weasley twins (James and Oliver Phelps). Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) is as eccentric as one would hope, and You-Know-Who (Ralph Fiennes) is very creepy. Perhaps the best surprise among the supporting cast is Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis), who finally gets some time to shine on the big screen.

Biggest Opening Ever

Goblet of Fire had the best opening weekend of any of the Harry Potter films, taking in $101.4 million in the United States and 14.9 million pounds in the United Kingdom, and a total of $181.4 million in 21 countries.

• Goblet of Fire Released

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Alexis Askew

March 08, 2024

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Movie Summary, Recap, & Review

In this article, we’ll explore the hauntingly magical story of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, along with a review, book and movie differences, and a FAQ!

The movie remains enjoyable and re-watchable despite the cringeworthy teenage angst plot drama. Overall, the excellent writing and phenomenal music make this movie a solid 8/10.

• The music is phenominal
• The plot twist with Mad-Eye Moody is incredible and completely unexpected (although foreshadowed well)
• The Yule Ball was fun; seeing Ron in his "dress" was funny, and seeing Hagrid's mini love story was enjoyable
• Cringeworthy teenage drama make it harder to rewatch as an adult
• The visuals ocassionally look bad in some scenes, like the headstones in the graveyard scene
• The movie removed many parts of the books which is a consistent complaint with the Harry Potter movie series

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In the fourth installment of the Harry Potter series, we experience a darker story through the lens of a new director, Mike Newell, as the trio return for their fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With Hogwarts hosting the Triwizard Tournament, students from neighboring wizarding schools join together to compete, putting their lives on the line for fame and glory. Friendships are made and strained as Harry faces threats from both inside and outside the school. In this article, we’ll be going over key elements of the movie, exploring differences between the book and the movie, along with a FAQ to answer some of your questions.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Summary & Recap

For once, the movie starts somewhere other than the Dursley’s home. We see a snake, a strange graveyard, and an old man who accidentally stumbles upon Voldemort, Wormtail, and another one of his loyal followers. The Dark Lord kills the man and Harry wakes up with his scar hurting. It was all a dream, or so he thinks .

Harry and Hermione are at the Burrow with the Weasleys. They meet up with two new characters, Amos Diggory, whom Mr. Weasley works with, and Cedric Diggory, a fellow Hogwarts student in his seventh year.

The Quidditch World Cup

The group travels using a portkey, an object that teleports the person who touches it to a certain location, to attend the Quidditch World Cup. Once again, magic catches Harry off guard when he sees their tent, small on the outside and huge on the inside. They run into the Malfoys on their way to their seats to enjoy the Quidditch game between Ireland and Bulgaria.

The Dark Mark

The game begins and we jump to the aftermath, where everyone is celebrating Ireland’s win back at the tent. But the celebration takes a sudden turn when the shouts of joy become screams of terror; Death Eaters are attacking the audience! During their escape, Harry is separated from his friends and is knocked unconscious in the stampede. When he comes to, everything is burned to the ground and a mysterious man in the distance has cast a spell into the sky. An apparition of a skull with a snake slithering through its mouth emerges, recognized in the wizarding world as The Dark Mark.

The Triwizard Tournament

Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts without any further incidents. During The Start-of-Term Feast, the headmaster announces that Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous tournament held every five years where three schools join together to compete.

The first school to be introduced is Beauxbatons Academy of Magic from France. The second school is Durmstrang Institute, whose exact location in Northern Europe is unknown. Amongst the students from Durmstrang is a familiar face, Victor Krum, the seeker for the Bulgarian team.

Mad-Eye Moody

Alastor Moody, aka Mad-Eye Moody, a famed Auror (a Ministry of Magic law enforcer) who hunts down dark wizards, makes an appearance during the feast. He is introduced as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. His first lesson displays his questionable teaching style as he shows the students what the Three Unforgivable Curses are, and what they are capable of. 

The Imperius Curse :   Imperio | Allows the caster to control the actions of the victim of the spell.

The Cruciatus Curse :   Crucio | The torture curse inflicts extreme pain upon the victim, and prolonged exposure may lead to insanity.

The Killing Curse : Avada Kedavra | The spell results in instantaneous death for its victim. Harry Potter is the only known survivor of this spell.

The Unexpected Fourth Champion

We learn that there is a restriction to who can compete in the Triwizard Tournament, only seventh year students are allowed to participate. A week after the start of term, everyone gathers in the Great Hall. The first name to be drawn is Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons. Victor Krum, from Drumstrang, is called next. The Hogwarts champion is called last and it's none other than Hufflepuff student, Cedric Digory.

Suddenly, a fourth piece of paper bursts from the flames and it has Harry Potter’s name written on it . Everyone, including Harry, is in shock; as he is only a fourth year, he should not have been able to put his name in the cup. Barty Crouch Sr., who is there to oversee the tournament, announces that the magical contract is binding and Harry is forced to compete.

The First Task

Harry gets a tip from Hagrid that the first task will involve dragons. Harry is the last to compete and gets the meanest dragon of them all, the Hungarian Horntail. His goal is to retrieve a golden egg which has a clue for the next task. Harry uses his broom and flying skills in an attempt to outmaneuver the dragon. However, it ends up breaking free of its chain and chases Harry while he’s on his broomstick, all the way to the castle. After multiple brushes with death, Harry manages to escape the dragon, make it back to the arena, and grab the egg.

The Yule Ball

The Yule Ball, as Professor McGonagall tells the students, is a tradition of the tournament that happens around Christmas. Harry has had his eye on a Ravenclaw student named Cho Chang throughout his fourth year. When he finally works up the nerve to ask her to the ball, she reveals she’s already going with someone else. Meanwhile, Hermione is also keeping her partner a secret from the boys.

Ron and Harry end up going with the Patil twins. At the ball, Harry sees his initial choice is with his fellow Hogwarts champion, while Hermione makes a grand entrance with the Durmstrang champion. The ball isn’t so great for everyone; both Harry and Ron are upset that they didn't get to go with their first choice. The night ends with Ron and Hermione arguing, and Hermione crying on the steps of the Entrance Hall.

The Second Task

Cedric gives Harry a hint since he still hasn’t figured out how the egg works, as a way of saying thanks to Harry who gave him a heads up about the dragons earlier on. Harry learns that the task will be underwater and spends up until the very last minute trying to figure out how to breathe underwater. Moody tells Neville to help Harry put his books away, and Neville reveals he knows a plant that will help him.

Harry uses Gillyweed and joins the competitors in the Black Lake, where he has one hour to find what is hidden underwater. He finds Ron, Hermione, Cho, and Fleur’s little sister trapped and unconscious deep below the surface. The merperson warns him that he can only save one. However, when Fleur doesn’t show up to save her sister, Harry chooses to save Ron and the girl, earning himself second place.

Barty Crouch Sr.

After the second task, Barty Crouch Sr. congratulates Harry. Moody interrupts them and Crouch Sr. notices something off about Moody's demeanor before silently stumbling away. Later on, Harry and his friends are walking with Hagrid through the woods, singing and celebrating Harry's victory, when he stumbles upon Barty Crouch Sr.'s dead body.

The Pensieve and the Trial

Harry waits in the headmaster's office alone to discuss what happened. While waiting, he finds a Pensieve, a magical item that is used to store and look at memories of the past. Harry accidentally falls into it and thus into one of Dumbledore’s memories. He appears in a courtroom with a younger Dumbledore, Moody, and Crouch Sr. Ongoing is a trial where Igor Kakaroff, the headmaster of Drumstrang (who is currently at Hogwarts), is trying to barter for his freedom from Azkaban. 

He was once a Death Eater and he is trying to regain his freedom by giving the Ministry of Magic names of former Death Eater followers. One of the names he gives is Severus Snape, but Dumbledore comes to Snape's defense by stating that he changed sides. The last name he gives is Barty Crouch Sr’s own son, Barty Crouch Jr. Harry recognizes him as the unknown Death Eater that has been reappearing in his dreams.

The Final Task

The third task begins, and Harry must figure out a way through a massive maze and reach the Triwizard Cup, hidden deep within the hedges. He faces multiple dangers, one of which being the maze itself. He runs into Victor, who has been bewitched and is attacking everyone except Harry. Victor simply leaves him alone and walks away. Harry and Cedric end up meeting up and both spot the Triwizard Cup. After a brief race, the two decide to work together.

They both grab the Triwizard Cup at the same time and discover that it is a portkey! To their surprise, it doesn’t take them back to Hogwarts like it’s supposed to.

The Rebirth of Lord Voldemort

The portkey takes them to the graveyard from Harry’s nightmares and he sees Tom Riddle’s name written on one of the headstones. Wormtail makes an appearance, holding what remains of the Dark Lord in his arms. He kills Cedric and captures Harry before doing a ritual that gives Voldemort a new and powerful body.

Voldemort, now reborn, summons his Death Eaters, one among them being Lucius Malfoy. The Dark Lord finally notices Harry is there and demands that they duel. Both of them cast a spell at one another which results in Harry's and Voldemort’s wands "connecting." As a result, the ghostly forms of the last four people Voldemort killed appear: Cedric Diggory, the muggle from Harry's dream, and Harry’s parents. The ghosts give Harry the cover he needs to escape as he grabs Cedric's body and the portkey, returning to Hogwarts.

Barty Crouch Jr.

Harry appears with Cedric’s body before the student body and teachers at the entrance of the maze. He tells Dumbledore that Voldemort is back and, as Amos mourns his son’s death, Moody takes Harry away. In his office, Moody begins acting strange and brings up things about the encounter that Harry never mentioned (such as him being in a graveyard).

Dumbledore and Snape burst in just as Moody’s body begins to change, revealing his true identity as Barty Crouch Jr. It becomes clear that he was behind Harry’s involvement in the tournament, aiming to aid Voldemort's revival, a plan he succeeded in. Barty Crouch Jr. had been using Polyjuice Potions while the real Alastor Moody remained trapped nearby in a magical trunk.

The movie ends with Dumbledore giving a solemn speech to honor Cedric Digory. Later, he talks to Harry, apologizing for putting him in danger. Harry mentions that he saw his parents in the graveyard, but the headmaster warns him that no spell can bring back the dead. With the knowledge of Voldemort's return to power and that everything is about to change in the wizarding world, the trio have one last peaceful moment as they watch the other schools depart.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Review

Cgi and visuals | 7/10.

While CGI develops year after year, the fourth Harry Potter movie comes with a unique take, most likely due to a new director, Mike Newell. Details like the snake moving at the very beginning and Voldemort’s skin and body when he returns are depicted beautifully. However, if you take a look at the background, especially during the graveyard scenes, the buildings and headstones look a little off. They look as if they have been painted, and it doesn’t blend in very well with the foreground.

Storyline and Plot Development | 10/10

The story for the fourth movie is unique. The students are competing for fame and glory, all while threats from both inside and outside the castle make the stakes even higher. Even though Voldemort doesn’t return until the very end, it’s the first movie where his real form is present. The plot twist with Moody is one of the best elements of the story. It's easy to believe all his years as an Aurora have made him a little unhinged, but the small hints that there is more to him than meets the eye all makes sense by the very end.

Character Development | 6/10

As the main characters reach their awkward teenage phase, the viewers are introduced to their love interest as well as rivalry between friends. For the first quarter of the movie, Ron is angry at Harry for entering the tournament and believes he’s lying to him. After all these years of knowing each other, this conflict between the two friends could have been easily resolved. It felt like it was added as one of many subplots, and this fourth movie throws all that teenage angst and anger at you. While not all friendships are perfect, it just doesn’t feel realistic for them to not have resolved their differences given their history.

Sound and Music | 10/10

The sound design and music has always been a strong suit in the Harry Potter series, and that remains the same in the fourth one. It still has a magical tone, all the while capturing the intensity of the Triwizard Tournament and the grandeur of the Yule Ball.

Reception and Impact | 8/10

Like most of the Harry Potter movies, fans were raving about seeing their favorite world and characters come to life. However, their biggest complaint remained the same: too many moments from the book were left out that people wanted to see and they felt the story was weaker for it. It also didn’t do as well in the box office as the movies to come.

Final Score | 8/10

Book and movie differences, dumbledore’s reaction: "dumbledore asked calmly".

One of the most talked about differences between the fourth book in the Harry potter series and movie has to do with one simple line. “Dumbledore asked calmly.” In the book, after Harry’s name emerged from the fire, Dumbledore approaches Harry and asks him if he put his name in the fire in a very calm and collected manner. In the movie, Michael Gambon’s portrayal of Dumbledore charges at Harry as he aggressively demands answers to his questions.

Winky the House-Elf

In the Harry Potter movies, we only see a select few house-elves. One of the characters that is cut from the movies is Winky the House-Elf. There is a whole subplot in the fourth book that involves Winky. Barty Crouch Sr. was her master and she ends up being framed for casting the Dark Lord's mark earlier in the book. As a form of punishment, Winky is given her freedom, which is the last thing she’s ever wanted, and ends up working in the kitchens at Hogwarts.

Another subplot left out of the movies is Hermione’s movement called S.P.E.W, a.k.a. Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare . The movies don’t showcase her creature loving nature very much, but in the books, she felt creatures, like house-elves, were being abused. She started the movement so that they could gain more rights and not be treated as slaves.

Rita Skeeter is an Animagus

Rita Skeeter is one of the most obnoxious characters in the fourth novel and movie, and actress Miranda Richardson does a great job at bringing her to life. However, a key element about her character is left out of the movie. Somehow, she’s always managing to get tips and news that she shouldn’t have. Hermione reveals at the end of the book that the journalist is actually an Animagus. Her form is a beetle, small and inconspicuous, but Hermione takes it upon herself to stick her in a jar so she can’t escape.

The Hungarian Horntail

The movie definitely makes the first task far more action packed than it is in the book and is, arguably, a good change. In the book, the Hungarian Horntail never breaks free from his chain and there is no epic chase scene. In the movie, the dragon does break free, making for an action-packed moment on the big screen. 

Buy: Harry Potter - Gryffindor Merch

Buy:harry potter - gryffindor merch, frequently asked questions, who put harry’s name in the goblet of fire and why.

Barty Crouch Jr, a Death Eater and follower of Voldemort, put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire while disguised as Mad-Eye Moody. He did this so that Harry would eventually end up in Voldemort’s hands at the end of the tournament to be able to revive him.

Why couldn’t Harry decline to enter the Triwizard Tournament?

Barty Crouch Sr. tells Harry and the other teachers that Harry can't refuse to enter the Goblet of Fire because of a binding magical contract that is formed the moment his name emerges from the fire.

What happens if a wizard breaks the "binding magical contract" of the Goblet of Fire?

It's unknown what would technically happen, as Harry never refused to enter the competition. The only other instance of a binding contract in the wizarding world is an "Unbreakable Vow" contract, where the penalty for breaching it is death.

Where was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire filmed?

The fourth Harry Potter movie was filmed in various locations in England. Most locations, like Ashridge Park and Shepperton Studios, were right outside London. A few scenes were shot near Oxford and Brighton.

Who won the Quidditch World Cup in the fourth Harry Potter movie?

The Quidditch World Cup Final of 1994 was between two professional teams, Bulgaria and the Republic of Ireland. By the end of the game, Ireland took the win.

When does the fourth Harry Potter take place?

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire begins in late August 1994 at the Burrow and ends in June 1995 at the end of Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts.

How long is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?

The Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie is 2 hours and 37 minutes long, or 157 minutes. The fourth book in the series is 37 chapters long with 752 pages.

“You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart.” ~Harry Potter and...

“Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, If you've a ready mind, Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind.”...

“You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil.” -Harry Potter...

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The Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling is known across the world. Rowling and her world became household names for...

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Harry Potter's Tom Felton Explains Why He Thinks Draco Malfoy's Redemption Arc Is 'Cool,' And I Agree

Draco Malfoy is now considered a redeemable character.

Tom Felton is featured in all eight of the Harry Potter movies as Harry’s Hogwarts antagonist, Draco Malfoy. Ever since Harry rebuffed Malfoy’s friendship offer after he made fun of his friend Ron, the two were at each other’s throats throughout the series. But as it’s been 12 years since Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out, fans are seeing Tom Felton’s Slytherin character in a whole new light. With the British actor finding his villainous character’s redemption arc “cool,” I have to say that I agree with him.

In most of the Harry Potter films, Draco Malfoy tends to look down on Harry based on his friends and not being a pureblood like him. While it can be easy to villainize Malfoy, fans are looking back on the fantasy series realizing that the snarky wizard isn’t all that bad... or at least it's not his fault that he is. Tom Felton told US Weekly that this is very “cool” news to hear about his character’s redemption arc after all of these years.

I mean obviously he's a slimy, he's not exactly the most desirable character at times. But, it's nice to see, yeah, it's really, really cool to see the correlation between the fact that Harry had no parents, and he came out brilliantly with honor, love and respect and truth being at the heart of it. And Draco having both parents, but not so good ones, and that he ended up being the bully because...You know, there's so many different subtle arcs now that are being discovered, and I think it's really cool. I think the redemption of Draco, slight redemption, I don't think he was born to be the hero at all, but the slight understanding that he was a bully because he was basically bullied it's quite cool.

It’s true that Draco Malfoy may not have been the hero at the end of the top-ranked Harry Potter film Deathly Hallows Part 2 , but you couldn’t really call him a villain anymore. After all, he could have ratted out Harry in Malfoy Manor when he appeared there with a disguised face. Malfoy also could have killed Dumbledore in The Half-Blood Prince , but he couldn’t find it in himself to do so. It proves that the world isn't all made up of heroes and villains; there are some who are shades of grey.

If you’re curious how Draco Malfoy suddenly got all of these fans, you can thank two online trends that amped up the character. With no more Harry Potter books left, the fan fiction community has written stories about the Hogwarts alum delving more deeply into the character. There’s also the TikTok trend called #dracotok where users romanticize or poke fun at the J.K. Rowling character. What makes these videos even more entertaining is when Tom Felton responds to Draco Malfoy fans in the form of duets in the shorts. No matter how many years it’s been, it proves that Harry Potter will always be in Felton’s heart.

Like Harry told Draco in The Goblet of Fire , “[Lucius Malfoy] is vile and cruel. And you’re just pathetic.” The Slytherin wizard is just following the teachings of his vicious parents because that’s all he has. When you get older, you can either continue to be just like your parents or be your own person. This is all the more reason why it’s a shame a deleted Deathly Hallows Part 2 scene of Malfoy throwing Harry’s wand to him didn’t make it in the final cut. It would have been a redeemable moment that squashed the rivalry between them. Then again, maybe that moment was taken out to avoid turning Harry Potter’s antagonist into a hero and to just have him be human.

Tom Felton and I are in total agreement that the redemption arc of Draco Malfoy over a decade later really is very “cool.” Malfoy may not have been popular during the run of the Harry Potter books and films ( not even with the ladies ), but with fans of the fantasy series getting older and still rewatching the movies, they see that he is just a victim of poor parenting that he brought with him during his schoolboy days.

If you’d like to relive the glory days of watching the rivalry between Harry and Malfoy, all of the Harry Potter movies can be found on your Peacock subscription .

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Harry Potter: 10 Ravenclaws That Deserve More Attention in the Remake, Ranked

The Harry Potter film series did an incredible job of handling the massive collection of characters from the books in their adaptation. However, when bringing a world as expansive as the Wizarding World to screen, it is natural that some of the less important characters are ignored. The film series tended to neglect the non-Gryffindor characters of the books, with characters from the other Hogwarts houses given very little screen time.

The characters of Ravenclaw House were especially neglected in the Harry Potter series, with characters like Sybil Trelawney, Gilderoy Lockhart, and Cho Chang appearing very one-dimensional compared to their book counterparts. With HBO's upcoming Harry Potter TV remake, the series has the opportunity to give these characters the attention they deserve, only enriching the story of the main characters.

Penelope Clearwater was Percy Weasley's Secret Girlfriend

The ravenclaw prefect was almost completely absent from the films.

• Penelope Clearwater was a Ravenclaw prefect five years older than Harry.
• Though given no lines, Penelope was played by Gemma Padley in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets.
• Penelope and Percy break up sometime after graduating from Hogwarts.

Fans of Harry Potter books will remember that during some of the early novels, Percy Weasley had a girlfriend. Penelope Clearwater was a Ravenclaw prefect who first appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . Harry Potter and Ron Weasley first meet her while disguised as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, and when Hermione Granger is petrified by the Basilisk, her body is found alongside the petrified body of Penelope.

Penelope is almost completely absent from the Harry Potter films. The Ghost of Nearly Headless Nick can be heard greeting her in a scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , and Hermione uses Penelope's name as a pseudonym while being interrogated by snatchers in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One . HBO's remake could easily include Penelope in their adaptation, with the secretive nature of her relationship with Percy making him a red herring in the mystery of who opened the Chamber of Secrets.

Michael Corner Was More Than Just Another D.A. Member

Ginny weasley's first boyfriend deserved more screen time.

• Michael Corner was portrayed by Ryan Nelson in Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix.
• Michael was recast with Jack Read in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part Two.
• Ginny Weasley breaks up with Michael for being a sore loser following her triumphant defeat of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

10 Ways Ginny Weasley Is Better In The Harry Potter Books Than The Movies

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , when Harry, Ron and Hermione decide to form Dumbledore's Army, Michael Corner decides to join. While Michael appears in the film adaptation with one line of dialogue, he is portrayed, for the most part, as just another nameless D.A. member. In the novels, however, it is revealed that Michael is the boyfriend of Ginny Weasley, which is why he decided to join the D.A. in the first place.

While Michael's prominence would not affect the overall story of the Harry Potter series, he would be a great way to represent Ginny's development as a character. Ginny dating both Michael and Dean Thomas before dating Harry would show that Ginny was not desperately pining after Harry for five years, making their eventual relationship feel much more complex and much better earned.

Padma Patil Was in the Wrong House

The films incorrectly portrayed padma as a gryffindor.

• The Harry Potter filmmakers made the decision to make Padma a Ravenclaw to make it more obvious that she and Parvati were twins.
• Padma appears in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban played by Sharon Sandhu, before being recast with Afshan Azad for the rest of the series.
• In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , Padma makes an appearance as Ron Weasley's wife in an alternate timeline.

Many casual Harry Potter fans would be surprised to learn that Padma Patil is a Ravenclaw. In the movies, Padma is portrayed as a Gryffindor alongside her twin sister, Parvati. Padma attends the Yule Ball with Ron Weasley, joins Dumbledore's Army, and takes part in the Battle of Hogwarts. In the films, Padma is never seen apart from her sister and given no lines of dialogue after her date with Ron. The decision from the Harry Potter films to make Padma a Gryffindor along with her twin sister strips Padma of what personality she had, making her simply one-half of a set of twins.

Padma, being in Ravenclaw, shows that she and Parvati have different personalities, interests, and values. HBO's Harry Potter remake should keep Padma a Ravenclaw and highlight how she hadn't fully forgiven Ron for how he treated her at the Yule Ball when she joined Dumbledore's Army. Additionally, HBO should definitely put more effort into designing Padma and Parvati's Yule Ball dresses in their remake, as many South-Asian fans have expressed their disappointment in the twins' traditional dress robes in the film compared to the other characters.

Cho Chang Was Just a Disposable Love Interest in the Films

Cho chang deserved much more depth.

• Cho Chang is considered to be of Korean descent.
• In the films, Cho is portrayed to be in the same year as Harry, despite being a year older in the books.
• Cho is played by Katie Leung in the films, making the film version of Cho Scottish.

Cho Chang is a controversial character in the Harry Potter universe. Many fans were disappointed when the film series made Cho Chang the one to betray Dumbledore's Army when it was her best friend, Marietta Edgecombe, in the novels. The films also tended to portray Cho merely as Harry's disposable love interest, with their relationship ending rather abruptly, with little to no closure.

HBO's Harry Potter TV adaptation should give more character depth to Cho Chang. In the novels, she was an excellent Quidditch player and very well-liked around the school. Some fans have argued that it would be wise to also give her a new name, as the name "Cho Chang" feels like a rather stereotypical name to give to the only East-Asian character in the series.

Garrick Ollivander Showed Up More Than Fans Remember

The wand maker reappears in goblet of fire.

• John Hurt was meant to reprise his role as Ollivander in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , but his scenes were cut from the film.
• Ollivander's first name, Garrick, was not revealed in the books but on the Pottermore website.
• Ollivander was one of the few characters who knew Lord Voldemort's real name, having sold a wand to Tom Riddle.

How Do Wands Work in Harry Potter?

Many Harry Potter fans would be surprised to hear that Garrick Ollivander, the esteemed wand-maker, was a Ravenclaw during his time at Hogwarts. Ollivander was the elderly, wise owner of Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley. He is incredibly important to the story, as he gives Harry his wand, which is revealed to share a core with the wand belonging to Lord Voldemort.

The Harry Potter films did a good job when it came to adapting Garrick Ollivander, introducing him in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , and reintroducing him in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One . However, book fans will know that Ollivander appears in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for the 'Weighing of the Wands' ceremony for the Triwizard Tournament. This scene would be a good moment for HBO to adapt, as it would give the audience a refresher on Ollivander and wand lore, which is a crucial plot point in the final novel.

Gilderoy Lockhart Makes a Surprise Reappearance

The famous writer returns in order of the phoenix.

• Lucius Malfoy actor Jason Isaacs originally auditioned for the role of Gilderoy Lockhart.
• Lockhart attended Hogwarts around the same time as the Marauders.
• Gilderoy Lockhart appeared in an early draft of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix but was ultimately removed from the final version.

The Harry Potter movies struck gold when they cast Kenneth Branagh ( A Haunting in Venice ) as Gilderoy Lockhart. The bashful Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was certainly a highlight in the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets film, introduced as a successful auto-biographer. The character provided a good cautionary tale for Harry as an example of what could become of him if he gave too much into his fame, as it is revealed that Lockhart was merely a fame-obsessed liar who stole the stories of other wizards for his books.

While in the Harry Potter films, Gilderoy Lockhart is never seen again after Chamber of Secrets , he makes a reappearance in the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix novel when Harry, Hermione and the Weasley family visit St. Mungo's hospital. It is revealed in this scene that Lockhart's memory is permanently damaged by his backfired memory charm. This would be a great sequence for HBO to adapt in their series, as fans who have not read the books would see the cameo of Lockhart as a great surprise.

Quirinus Quirrell Had More Backstory to Explore

Harry's first villain was a ravenclaw.

• Quirrell is one of the few characters in the series who can do wandless magic.
• In the novel, Quirrel is not wearing his turban during his first meeting with Harry in the Leaky Cauldron.
• Quirrel was the Muggle Studies professor before taking on the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

10 Weakest Harry Potter Villains, Ranked

While many Harry Potter fans believe that every major villain in the series is from Slytherin House, many would be surprised to find out that the first villain of the series, Quirinus Quirrell, was a Ravenclaw during his time as a Hogwarts Student. The timid professor was the twist villain of the first film, revealed to have Lord Voldemort on the back of his head, hidden under his turban.

The film did a great job adapting the character of Quirinus Quirrell, hitting all the major story beats. However, there are several small details about Quirrell's character that HBO could include in their remake series. Quirrel was actually the Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts before his brief stint as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher during Harry's first year. Quirrell then took a year off from teaching to visit the forests of Albania, where he met Lord Voldemort.

Sybill Trelawney's Prophecy Kicked Off the Entire Story

Trelawney predicted that harry was the chosen one.

• In the novels, several of Trelawney small predictions end up coming true.
• Sybill Trelawney is the granddaughter of famous seer Cassandra Trelawney.
• While Harry wasn't fond of Professor Trelawney, she was a favorite teacher of Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown.

Professor Sybill Trelawney was a much more crucial character than many Harry Potter fans may remember. While Trelawney was simply portrayed as the strange Divination professor at Hogwarts, much of her story was left out of the films. While the character appears prominently in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , her importance is cut back significantly in the following films , despite being the catalyst for the entire story.

In the Harry Potter novels, it is revealed that during her job interview with Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, she gave the prophecy that predicted that Harry would be the one to defeat Lord Voldemort. The prophecy was overheard by an eavesdropping Severus Snape, who immediately conveyed the message to his master, Lord Voldemort. HBO should absolutely include this scene in their Harry Potter adaptation, as it adds a whole new level of nuance to Snape's story, as he was indirectly responsible for Voldemort killing Lily and James Potter.

Rowena Ravenclaw Was the Founder of the Wise House

Fans would love to see rowena ravenclaw and the founders on screen.

• Rowena, along with the other Hogwarts founders, lived during the tenth century CE.
• A statue of Rowena Ravenclaw can be found in the Ravenclaw Common Room.
• Rowena valued Hogwarts students who were intelligent and wise.

It's no secret that Harry Potter would love to see the story of the four Founders of Hogwarts on screen. When HBO announced their plans to remake the Harry Potter films as a TV series, many expressed their disappointment, hoping for a series based around the Founders instead.

HBO could provide some great fan service in their Harry Potter TV series by including the Founders' story in a series of flashbacks during their Chamber of Secrets adaptation, where their story is most important. Rowena Ravenclaw's story is especially important to the overall plot, as it is revealed in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows that her daughter, Helena Ravenclaw, stole her diadem. This diadem ends up being one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. Fans would love to see Rowena Ravenclaw in flashback sequences sporting this diadem.

Luna Lovegood Deserved More Screen Time

Luna was a leading member of dumbledore's army.

• Harry Potter names his daughter after Luna; Lily Luna Potter.
• Luna Lovegood actress Evanna Lynch made a lot of Luna's jewelry herself for the films.
• While Luna Lovegood seems to end up with Neville Longbottom in the films, she actually ends up marrying Rolf Scamander, grandson of Newt Scamander. ( Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ).

When it comes to Ravenclaw characters in Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood is by far given the most screen time. Luna is well represented in the film adaptations, portrayed as Harry's dear friend and a member of Dumbledore's Army. However, Luna is given an even bigger role in the novels, which HBO could incorporate into their Harry Potter remake.

In the Harry Potter novels, Luna is shown to be a firm supporter of Harry and Dumbledore very early on, something not made clear in the film until she joins the DA. HBO should include Luna's time at Hogwarts during Deathly Hallows; while Harry, Ron and Hermione are on the run, it is Luna, along with Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom, leading the rebellion from within the school.

Harry Potter

The Harry Potter franchise follows the adventure of a young boy introduced a whole new world of magic, mayhem and darkness. Traversing the obstacles in his path, young Harry's rise to heroics pits him against Lord Voldemort, one of the most dangerous wizards in the world and all his minions.

Created by J.K. Rowling

First Film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Latest Film Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2

Upcoming TV Shows Harry Potter

Cast Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Radcliffe, Alan Rickman

Where to watch HBO Max

Spin-offs (Movies) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Character(s) Voldemort, Harry Potter

Video Game(s) Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, LEGO Harry Potter Collection, Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells, Hogwarts Legacy, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1

Screen Rant

The harry potter tv show can do a key character death justice after the original movies rushed past it.

The Harry Potter TV remake has the opportunity to give one character a proper send-off, even though the movie didn’t do his death justice.

• HBO's Harry Potter TV show has the chance to fix past mistakes, like rushing through a key character death from Deathly Hallows.
• The series can expand on battles and character arcs, providing a better platform for emotional send-offs that were lacking in the movies.
• Mad-Eye Moody's death is a prime example of a missed opportunity in the books and films, highlighting the need for a more emotional farewell.

HBO's Harry Potter TV show has the opportunity to fix certain elements of the movies, and it can finally do a key character death justice after the initial adaptation rushed right past it . The Harry Potter movies have a positive legacy compared to many other book adaptations of their time. However, they don't always do the source material justice. In certain instances — like the Harry Potter movies' worst death — they even repeat the problems from J.K. Rowling's books. And this is the case for another key Harry Potter death , which deserves more attention in both the books and films.

Fortunately, Harry Potter will get a second chance on the small screen, and it can spend more time on details like that. A TV show's runtime will allow the supporting characters to be fleshed out further, and their send-offs can be treated with the weight that they deserve. Harry Potter 's battles can also be expanded and improved , something that would help several character deaths hit harder, including one Deathly Hallows - Part 1 speeds through too quickly.

Harry Potter Reboot Wishlist: 15 Things Fans Demand

Hbo's harry potter show can finally do mad-eye moody's death justice, the books & movies speed past his sacrifice.

Mad-Eye Moody is introduced in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — and though the real Moody doesn't show up until Order of the Phoenix, the character plays a prominent role in the latter half of the series. It's largely thanks to Moody that Harry escapes Privet Drive unharmed after his 17th birthday, and that doesn't get acknowledged enough. After all, Moody perishes getting Harry to safety in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 . Unfortunately, this is quickly rushed past with everything else happening during the Battle of the Seven Potters .

The Deathly Hallows movie doesn't show Moody's death in battle, nor does it give it adequate attention after it's announced.

The Deathly Hallows movie doesn't show Moody's death in battle, nor does it give it adequate attention after it's announced. The remaining Order members briefly mourn Moody, but developments like George Weasley losing his ear distract from the battle's major deaths. And while it's fair to say that things move quickly in battle, Moody isn't really mentioned again after his flight from Privet Drive. It's a disappointing way for his character to go, and it's something HBO's Harry Potter remake should rectify when it reaches the later books .

Mad-Eye Moody Deserved A Better Death In The Books & Movies

Even j.k. rowling's source material doesn't do it justice.

It's obvious that Mad-Eye Moody deserves a better send-off in the Harry Potter movies, but it's hard to blame them for failing this moment. After all, even the source material doesn't do Moody's death justice . Like the movies, the Harry Potter books don't actually show Moody going down fighting. This could have been portrayed as a valiant moment for a character who dedicated his life to fighting evil wizards. Showing his death on-screen would have allowed Moody to have one last epic scene before taking his final bow.

It's obvious that Mad-Eye Moody deserves a better send-off in the Harry Potter movies, but it's hard to blame them for failing this moment.

The books also move quickly during and after the Battle of the Seven Potters , with the characters jumping from loss to loss without time to truly grieve. While this is realistic, it doesn't work after failing to show Moody's final fight. Instead, it feels as though the character is an afterthought of the battle — a means of showing that people are dying during the war. The death is meant to pack a punch, but its lack of attention strips it of emotion. The Harry Potter TV show must ensure to fix that, making this moment a tearjerker instead.

How The Harry Potter Remake Can Give The Character A Better Send-Off

Showing the full battle of the seven potters is the best way to do it.

When it comes to giving Mad-Eye Moody a better send-off, the Harry Potter remake already has an easy way to do it. Rather than showing the Battle of the Seven Potters from Harry's perspective alone, the series should allow viewers to see this fight from multiple vantage points. This would make Moody's weight pack a greater punch , as fans would actually see it — and they'd get a reminder of what a great character he is right before it happens. It would also make the Battle of the Seven Potters more epic in general, as there's plenty of chaos that unfolds outside of Harry's sight.

Rather than showing the Battle of the Seven Potters from Harry's perspective alone, the series should allow viewers to see this fight from multiple vantage points.

Additionally, the HBO show should give Moody a more emotional send-off than a toast at the Burrow . It could change Harry Potter canon and have the Order recover Moody's body, enabling them to have a funeral to say goodbye. Of course, the characters could also host a funeral of sorts without the body. Moody certainly deserves a proper send-off, so the Harry Potter series must find a way to make it happen.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is HBO's remake of the iconic Wizarding World film series that consisted of eight films between 2001 and 2011. Each season adapts a book from JK Rowling's popular series and provides more book-accurate details than the movies did. Upon the announcement of the Harry Potter TV show, the series received harsh criticism for the involvement of Rowling and for many thinking a reboot was unnecessary.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

• Episode aired Apr 9, 2024

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• April 9, 2024 (United Kingdom)
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With a Reboot, This Harry Potter Storyline Could Finally Get Justice

It's time for these characters to shine!

The Big Picture

• The upcoming Harry Potter reboot TV show has the opportunity to explore elements from the books that didn't make it into the films.
• The house-elves, who play a major role in the story, were largely overlooked in the film adaptations.
• The show can correct this oversight by delving deeper into the house-elf storyline, including Winky, S.P.E.W., and the house-elves bravely participating in the Battle of Hogwarts.

It's a well-known fact that Harry Potter is one of the most recognizable book series around. The film adaptions gained a lot of popularity as well. Overall, the movies stuck closely to the book's plot , but they were not perfect. With the announcement of a Harry Potter reboot TV show coming to Max in the not-too-distant future, elements from the books that didn't appear in the film can get a spotlight. The streaming service has remained tight-lipped about the project, but David Heyman , who worked as a producer on the films and is set to be the executive producer of the series, claims the show "explores the books more deeply." However, he insisted the project is in the early days, meaning it could be a while before more news comes. Yet there is some information about the series floating around. Despite the controversy surrounding author J.K. Rowling , she is involved in the new adaption. But there is more information about who won't be involved with the films' director, David Yates, and the original Harry, Daniel Radcliff , and denying a connection to the show .

Though at first glance, it seems to be an odd choice to start over with material that has already appeared onscreen, the show can finally bring to the screen what the films left out. Time constraints required several significant pieces to be cut from the films , and Heyman's statement suggests that will change in the show. Though the series will still have a time limit as well, it will not be quite so restrictive. Assumedly, the show will dedicate roughly a season per book, so each book will get more time to fill. Where movies run about two to three hours long, shows often get between eight and ten episodes that are an hour each, effectively tripling the time allotted for each book. This means that fans will be able to enjoy many things that didn't make the cut the first time around. Everything from Peeves to Voldemort's full backstory now has a chance. Yet one storyline that didn't make it in the films, in particular, deserves to appear finally. Unlike the films, the books have a heavy focus on the plight of house-elves and their significance to the fight against Voldemort. These creatures receive very little time in the adaption despite their major role in the story, and it's time for them to get justice.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Adaptation of the first of J.K. Rowling's popular children's novels about Harry Potter, a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student at Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards. There, he meets several friends who become his closest allies and help him discover the truth about his parents' mysterious deaths.

What Are House-elves?

Remembered primarily for the actions of the hero, Dobby ( Toby Jones ), house-elves are creatures in the Wizarding World who mainly function as slave labor, but this doesn't seem to bother most people in the universe. They are often servants in Pureblood households or at wizarding institutions like Hogwarts. They are fiercely loyal creatures. For proof, look at Dobby's relationship with Harry and his willingness to die for his friend . But sometimes wizards aren't so kind, yet house-elves are still loyal to a fault. Before Dobby gets his freedom, he is stuck with the Malfoy family , and when he disobeys orders, he's compelled to hurt himself.

During the story, many house-elves are oppressed, despite the Ministry of Magic's Elvish Legislation . Dobby claims it was worse when Voldemort was in power, hence his love for Harry. Yet even once Voldemort was gone, Dobby and others like him were still in bad situations. The Malfoys were unkind to Dobby at every turn. Whatever bound house-elves to their wizard masters forced obedience and can be broken if their master presents them with clothes. Though these meek creatures are given a low status among magical beings, house-elves have their own kind of magic that isn't subject to the same limitations as wizards, which is useful when they are helping the heroes. Though Hogwarts is full of house-elves, only two appear in the films, Dobby and the Black family's Kreacher ( Simon McBurney ). These two play an important role, though Dobby is cut from both Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix . Along with these appearances, the films remove Winky, another crucial house-elf. Her presence is one of the many oversights the series can correct.

What Did The Films Leave Out About House-Elves?

One of the main elements of the house-elf story that didn't make it in the films is the Society for the Protection of Elvish Welfare or S.P.E.W. In the books, Hermione ( Emma Watson ) isn't just the smartest girl in her year, but also a passionate activist who fights for fair treatment for the house-elves. Her unfortunately-named organization promotes house-elf rights. This subplot explores Hermione's characterization and her sense of justice. However, she doesn't go about helping the house-elves in the best way. Hermione knits clothing and hides it around the Gryffindor common room to free the house-elves who come to clean, but before long, only Dobby is willing to clean the room because the rest fear finding clothes. After generations of enslavement, the house-elves are wary of freedom. They have lived one way for so long that they developed a society that conforms to it. For most elves, being set free is shameful, and even Dobby's delight in his freedom can't change that. He's looked down on for being a free elf. Though the character is cut from the films, the books include Winky, formerly the Crouch's elf, who is ashamed of her freedom. Dobby and Winky allow for the concept of house elves and their treatment and norms to be explored in depth in the books and could do the same for a show.

The Battle of Hogwarts gave an unusual chance for house-elves to show bravery. Though Ron ( Rupert Grint ) and Hermione gave them a chance to escape, some decided to fight. None other than Kreacher, formerly the Black family's elf who shared their prejudices, leads the Hogwarts house-elves into battle to protect the castle. Kreacher's battle cry calls Harry Potter the defender of house-elves, and it references his former master Regulus Black, who opposed Voldemort, but the books don't explore why the Hogwarts house-elves joined the battle. It could be self-protection or extreme loyalty to the masters at Hogwarts, but whatever the motivation, it is a bold move for the small creatures. The moment is also a milestone in Kreacher's development, who was abused by Voldemort himself. When introduced, Kreacher shows loyalty to the Black family and hatred towards Harry and his friends, calling them Mudbloods and blood traitors. But as they show him kindness and align themselves with Regulus Black, he becomes more agreeable until he eventually charges into battle against Voldemort. The films ignored Kreacher's redemption arc, despite it beating Severus Snape's ( Alan Rickman ) convoluted characterization to become the best example of redemption in the story.

How Can The New 'Harry Potter' Show Fix This Mistake?

With more time to develop the story , the upcoming reboot could offer the house-elves the focus they deserve. Including Winky's character and having Dobby present throughout the story, would allow the series to explore the norms and society of house-elves, especially the ones living at Hogwarts. Likewise, adapting the S.P.E.W. plot would bring in how the house-elves view freedom, despite their less-than-ideal situations. This ties in the Voldemort's prejudices, showing how so many wizards would follow him. Additionally, this could demonstrate Hermione's ability to relate her issues as a muggleborn witch to others who are mistreated.

Including Kreacher's development would expand that house-elf story, allowing it to accumulate in their participation in the Battle of Hogwarts. Giving the house-elves their due would provide a great story for the series and differentiate it from the films. The story isn't resolved in the books, as the creatures are still oppressed and resisting freedom. But it is yet another example of the Wizarding World's struggle with prejudices. Though the characters face one head-on, they have more to do after Voldemort's death. The messiness of the situation forces the audience to think critically, which is the beauty of this storyline. The house-elf plot is largely lost in the films, but, with another adaptation, this storyline could finally get the focus it deserves.

The Harry Potter films are available to watch on Max in the U.S.

WATCH ON MAX

19 Best Movies New to Streaming in April: ‘Zone of Interest,’ ‘Anyone but You,’ ‘Late Night With the Devil,’ ‘Wish’ and More

By Zack Sharf

Digital News Director

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Oscar-winning dramas and box office genre hits are making their way to streaming platforms this month. Far and away the best movie set to premiere is Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a disturbing masterwork about the Holocaust that picked up two Academy Awards last month: best international feature and best sound design. Distributor A24 inked a streaming deal with Max last year, so “Zone of Interest” now joins other must-see recent A24 films like Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” on the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming platform.

For viewers looking for a much lighter offering, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s romantic-comedy “Anyone but You” arrives on Netflix this month and should be just as much of a blockbuster on streaming as it turned out to be in theaters. Opening ahead of Christmas last year, the film was a box office sleeper hit and has grossed close to $220 million at the worldwide box office. No wonder Sweeney and Powell are already in talks about what to team up for next.

Another box office hit, albeit on a smaller scale, coming to streaming in April is IFC’s “Late Night With the Devil,” a found footage horror throwback that broke the record for the studio’s biggest opening weekend ever with $2.8 million. The film is now nearing $7 million at the domestic box office and could surpass $10 million by the time it becomes available to stream this month on the horror platform Shudder.

Scroll below for a full list of the biggest titles new to streaming in April 2024.

The Zone of Interest (April 5 on Max)

Jonathan Glazer’s masterpiece Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” picked up two Oscar wins last month for best international feature and best sound design. The film was also named one of Variety’s best movies of 2023 by chief film critic Owen Gleiberman, who wrote: “A movie that channels the horror of the Holocaust should hit you with the force of revelation. Yet too many movies with this subject matter do not; Jonathan Glazer’s quietly shocking drama assuredly does. It’s set in and around the stately German bourgeois home where Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), an SS officer, carries on a comfortable domestic existence with his wife, Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), and children. The catch is: He’s the commandant of Auschwitz — and the concentration camp is literally right over the wall next to their garden. Glazer creates an unnerving true-life fairy-tale nightmare of evil, using the distant sounds of Auschwitz (the fire from the ovens, the screams) to evoke a monstrousness we can’t see.”

Scoop (April 5 on Netflix)

“The Crown” may have ended last year, but Netflix has another royal drama in store. “Scoop” is the streamer’s feature-length dramatization of Prince Andrew‘s toe-curling interview with “Newsnight” anchor Emily Maitlis. Maitlis is played by Gillian Anderson in the film, while Andrew is played by “The Diplomat” star Rufus Sewell. Keeley Hawes is also on board as Amanda Thirsk, Andrew’s former private secretary, and Billie Piper stars as Sam McAlister, the “Newsnight” producer who secured the interview with Andrew. The interview with Maitlis in November 2019 was dubbed a “car crash” after the British royal, who settled a sexual assault suit with Virginia Guiffre two years ago, said he had no regrets about his friendship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Strange Way of Life (April 12 on Netflix)

Pedro Almodóvar’s lavish Western short film “Strange Way of Life” debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last year and pairs Pedro Pascal opposite Ethan Hawke as two aging cowboys who were once secret romantic partners. They are reunited after 25 years when Hawke’s Sheriff Jake seeks out his sister-in-law’s murderer. The tension of the present and the eroticism of the past converge. 

“This is a queer western in the sense that there are two men, and they love each other, and they behave in that situation in an opposite way,” said  Almodóvar last year . “What I can tell you about the film is that it has a lot of the elements of the Western. It has the gunslinger. It has the ranch. It has the sheriff. But what it has that most Westerns don’t have is the kind of dialogue that I don’t think a Western film has ever captured between two men. And now I think I’m telling you too much.”

Anyone but You (April 23 on Netflix)

After becoming a surprise box office sensation with more than $215 million at the worldwide box office, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s romantic-comedy “Anyone but You” makes its streaming debut on Netflix this month, where it’s bound to keep being a big hit. The actors play former flames who reluctantly pose as a couple during a wedding weekend in Australia to keep their friends and family off their backs. From  Variety’s review:   “It’s a gloss on ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ but Will Gluck’s formula romantic comedy is most likable for the brash way it lets its two up-and-coming stars channel the age of antipathy… It is, in many ways, as prefab as a lot of the rom-coms of the ’90s and aughts, but there’s something zesty and bracing about how it channels the anti-romanticism of the Tinder-meets-MeToo generation.”

Late Night With the Devil (April 19 on Shudder)

After breaking box office records for IFC Films, the horror movie “Late Night With the Devil” arrives on Shudder this month to keep the scares going. The third feature from Australia’s directing duo the Cairnes Brothers is a clever construct in which a late night network broadcast devolves into supernatural chaos on Halloween night. David Dastmalchian leads the film as the Johnny Carson-esque host, whose desire for big ratings leads to terrifying consequences when he invites an allegedly possessed girl onto the show. From  Variety’s  review:  “This isn’t the scariest movie, but neither is it entirely a self-conscious joke. The Cairnes maintain an astute balance between pop-culture irony, familiar if not always predictable thrills (including some creature/gore FX), and a kind of hallucinatory mass-media surrealism.”

Migration (April 19 on Peacock) 

From the toon studio behind such widely appealing hits as “Minions” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” comes “Migration,” a family comedy about a group of mallards struggling to find their way south. The movie was a box office sleeper hit over the holidays and should compete with Disney’s “Wish” as the top choice for families on streaming this month when it debuts on Peacock. The movie, written by “The White Lotus” creator Mike White, features the voices of Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina and Carol Kane, among others.

Wish (April 3 on Disney+)

Disney’s animated musical “Wish” did not exactly set the box office on fire last year, but the movie’s streaming debut on Disney+ is bound to increase viewership. Oscar winner Ariana DeBose voices Asha, who makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force — a little ball of boundless energy called Star. The two new friends team up to put a stop to the evil magic being conjured by King Magnifico (Chris Pine). From  Variety’s  review:  “‘Wish,’ Disney’s lavish animated musical, doesn’t look like the studio’s other animated features. The images resemble softly drawn calendar-art paintings, without the usual splashes of kaleidoscopic color — here, a more muted palette of blue, green, gray, pink, and lavender creates a pleasing storybook texture. And Chris Pine’s punchy performance certainly gives you someone to root against.”

Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scavenger (April 19 on Netflix)

Critics be damned. Zack Snyder’s first “Rebel Moon” was widely panned when it debuted over Christmas, but the second part arrives this month in its continued CGI-heavy glory. The franchise follows a lone soldier named Kora (Sofia Boutella), whose quiet life and community on a farming moon called Veldt is threatened by the evil royal empire the Imperium. Kora’s new life is tragically interrupted and she’s thrust back into war when the menacing Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) visits her planet on behalf of the Imperium’s leader, Balisarius (Fra Fee). Kora recruits a band of fighters, including Gunnar (Michiel Huisman), Darrian Bloodaxe (Ray Fisher), Kai (Charlie Hunnam) and a robot named Jimmy (voiced by Anthony Hopkins), to lead her resistance.

Tiger (April 22 on Disney+)

Disney is celebrating Earth Day this year with a new nature documentary, “Tiger.” Narrated by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, the film “lifts the veil on our planet’s most revered and charismatic animal, inviting viewers to journey alongside Ambar, a young tigress raising her cubs in the fabled forests of India,” the film’s synopsis reads. “Curious, rambunctious, and at times a bit clumsy, the cubs have a lot to learn from their savvy mother who will do all she can to keep them safe from pythons, bears, and marauding male tigers.” The movie, directed by Mark Linfield and co-directed by Vanessa Berlowitz and Rob Sullivan, was shot over 1,500 days of filming and combines fast-paced action with remarkably intimate moments of the tigers.

She Came to Me (April 5 on Hulu)

Indie comedies have often come in one of two flavors: sincere or quirky. Rebecca Miller’s ardent ensemble comedy “She Came to Me” has the off-kilter deftness to be both at once. Its central figure is a celebrated composer of operas, played by Peter Dinklage at his most broodingly magnetic, who stops into a dive bar in the morning and gets picked up for an erotic adventure by a sexaholic tugboat captain, played with lived-in charm by Marisa Tomei. What follows is a cracked bedroom farce that’s really a story of salvation. Miller’s films, in their delicate humanity, are frail blossoms that have too often gotten lost. This one is worth finding.

Girls State (April 5 on Apple TV+)

A spiritual successor the 2020 Texas-set documentary “Boys State,” Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s “Girls State” follow teenage girls attending a week-long democratic camp in Missouri in which they work together to build a new kind of government in their image. The synopsis for the movie from Apple reads: “What would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? A political coming-of-age story and a stirring reimagination of what it means to govern, ‘Girls State’ follows young female leaders — from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri — as they navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up.”

Musica (April 4 on Prime Video)

Pairing internet personality Rudy Mancuso with “Riverdale” favorite Camila Mendes, the romance “Musica” is billed by Prime Video as “a coming-of-age love story that follows an aspiring creator with synesthesia, who must come to terms with an uncertain future, while navigating the pressures of love, family and his Brazilian culture in Newark, New Jersey.” The film is written and directed by Mancuso. Mendes just had a Prime Video hit with the rom-com “Upgraded,” which debuted on the streaming platform during Valentine’s Day. Prime Video is surely hoping that success bleeds into “Musica,” which will keep the rom-com views coming on streaming this month ahead of the arrival of “Anyone but You” on Netflix.

The Holdovers (April 29 on Prime Video)

Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” arrives on Prime Video this month at no extra cost to subscribers after debuting on streaming last year courtesy of Peacock. The film won the Academy Award for best supporting actress thanks to the performance by Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Paul Giamatti leads the period comedy-drama as an ornery school teacher who is forced to chaperone students staying over at his prep school during the holiday break. From  Variety’s  review : “Peer beyond the perfectly satisfying Christmas-movie surface, and ‘The Holdovers’ is a film about class and race, grief and resentment, opportunity and entitlement. It’s that rare exception to the oft-heard complaint that ‘they don’t make ’em like they used to.'”

Happy Gilmore (April 1 on Netflix)

With news that a sequel to “Happy Gilmore” is in the works , is it just a coincidence that Adam Sandler’s 1996 sports comedy classic returns to Netflix this month? The comedian plays the eponymous Happy Gilmore, a hockey player with anger management issues who discovers he’s also got a talent for golf. Happy joins the golf tour circuit to win money to save his grandmother’s house and faces off against an arrogant pro named Shooter McGavin, played by Christopher McDonald. The supporting cast includes “Modern Family” favorite Julie Bowen and the late Carl Weathers. “Happy Gilmore” opened in 1996 and made nearly $40 million at the worldwide box office. The movie helped Sandler become one of the biggest comedy stars of the decade along with titles like “Billy Madison,” “The Waterboy,” “The Wedding Singer,” “Big Daddy” and more.

The Matrix (April 1 on Netflix)

“The Matrix” celebrated its 25th anniversary on March 31, and now it’s back on Netflix alongside sequels “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions.” Variety calls it one of the greatest action movies ever made : “Synthesizing everything from cyberpunk sci-fi to video games to Hong Kong action movies, the Wachowskis rewired what had come before, introducing a sleek new aesthetic that not only represented the future, but influenced fashion and filmmaking codes for decades to come. After ‘Star Wars,’ this is the film franchise that has come the closest to establishing a religious cult in its own image, as fans seized on the movie’s quasi-spiritual/philosophical elements.”

Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain (April 2 on Prime Video)

Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy, the “Saturday Night Live” trio better known as Please Don’t Destroy, become movie stars in their Judd Apatow-produced feature “The Treasure of Foggy Mountain,” which arrives this month on Prime Video at no extra cost to subscribers after launching last year exclusively on Peacock. Here’s the official logline: “John Goodman narrates the adventure of Ben, Martin and John, three childhood friends turned deadbeat co-workers, who fend off hairless bears, desperate park rangers (played by Meg Stalter and X Mayo) and a hypocritical cult leader (Bowen Yang) in the hopes of finding a priceless treasure, only to discover that finding the treasure is the easiest part of their journey. Oh, and Conan O’Brien plays Ben’s dad in it.”

The Exorcist: Believer (April 9 on Prime Video)

David Gordon Green’s “Exorcist” reboot was designed to kick off a new trilogy for Universal Pictures, but those plans are now iffy after the movie nosedived with critics and at the box office. The film, which made its streaming debut on Peacock last December, will be available for Prime Video subscribers at no extra cost starting this month. The sequel follows Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.), a photographer trying to find answers after his daughter and her friend go missing, only to return possessed by evil forces a few days later. Fielding seeks help from Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), who experienced a similar possession 50 years earlier. The movie also stars Lidya Jewett, Olivia O’Neill, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Ann Dowd and others.

Harry Potter Series (April 1 on Max)

As a TV series based in the Wizarding World is in the works at Max, the “Harry Potter” movie franchise is back on the Warner Bros. Discovery streamer this month. All eight movies are now available to watch: “Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone Harry Potter,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.”

Men (April 18 on Max)

With Alex Garland’s latest directorial effort “Civil War” set to be one of the buzziest theatrical releases of April 2024, it’s smart for distributor A24 to make their last Garland collaboration “Men” available to stream on Max this month. An eerie slice of folk horror, “Men” stars Jessie Buckley as a grieving woman whose isolated trip to the country takes a sinister turn. From Variety’s review : “The ‘Annihilation’ helmer puts the ‘men’ in ‘menacing,’ conjuring a town where the locals intimidate an emotionally traumatized woman trying to escape a bad marriage… audiences are all but guaranteed to leave this folk-horror bizart-house offering feeling disturbed, even if no two viewers can agree on what bothered them about it.”

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