Harry Potter The Philosopher’s Stone Movie

Harry Potter: 10 Differences Between The Philosopher’s Stone Book & The Movie

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was the first movie/book in the franchise. The film was loved by fans, but deviated from the source material.

No book-to-film adaptation is perfect, but for a long time, Harry Potter fans have felt that The Philosophers Stone was the closest to perfect that fandom got. The film honored the integrity of the book and even lifted dialogue directly from the source material. It also did a good job of launching the movie fandom without the success of The Philosophers Stone, the rest of the movies might never have been made.

But the movie does make some changes from the book. Some are huge, some are less important, but diehard Potterheads and especially the Ravenclaws out there have noticed all of them.

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone

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• In a quidditch match, a Slytherin player takes his team’s beater’s club and whacks a bludger at Oliver Wood unaware of it and he falls backwards on his broomstick behind a goal hoop then falls to the ground. However, his injured body is not seen throughout the match and survives by being seen in the second film. In the same match, two Slytherin players railroad a Gryffindor chaser into a pillar, and she crashes to the ground from behind a banner. We see her unconscious, but otherwise fine.

Publication And Reception In The United Kingdom

Bloomsbury accepted the book, paying Rowling a £2,500 advance and Cunningham sent proof copies to carefully chosen authors, critics and booksellers in order to obtain comments that could be quoted when the book was launched. He was less concerned about the book’s length than about its author’s name, since the title sounded like a boys’ book to him and he believed boys preferred books by male authors. Rowling therefore adopted the pen nameJ.K. Rowling just before publication.

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher’s Stone with an initial print run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Her original name, “Joanne Rowling”, can be found on the copyright page of all British editions until September 1999. The short initial print run was standard for first novels and Cunningham hoped booksellers would read the book and recommend it to customers. Examples from this initial print run have sold for as much as US$471,000 in a 2021 Heritage auction.Thomas Taylor created the cover for the first edition.

9+34, from which the Hogwarts Express left London, was commemorated in the real-life King’s Cross railway station with a sign and a trolley apparently passing through the wall.

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When Harry Met Draco

Speaking of that trip to Diagon Alley… film-Harry doesnt meet Draco at Madame Malkins Robes For All Occasions. In the book, Draco Malfoy is a snide boy who is getting his robes hemmed at the same time Harry walks in. They dont exchange names, but Malfoy does say some mean things about Hagrid, causing Harry to dislike him immediately. They meet again on the Hogwarts Express, where Draco tells Harry not to make friends with the wrong sort.

In the movie, Harry and Draco dont meet until theyre already in the castle. Draco still says his line about the Weasleys, and Harry still gets to snap back at him with one of his signature witty retorts.

Hagrid Takes Harry To Kings Cross

In the film, when Hagrid bursts into Harrys life on his 11th birthday and changes it forever, its July 31. After they shop in Diagon Alley the next day and get Harry everything he needs, the next thing we see is Hagrid dropping Harry off at Kings Cross for the train.

But the train leaves from Platform 9¾ on September 1. Did Harry spend the full month of August with Hagrid? In the book, Harry is returned to the Dursleys house to eagerly count down the days until he can leave for Hogwarts. They take him to Kings Cross on September 1 dropping him off without making sure he safely finds his train, as the Dursleys are wont to do.

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Is It Any Good

This first film in the Harry Potter series is filled with visual splendor, valiant heroes, spectacular special effects, and irresistible characters. It’s only fair to say that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is truly magical. The settings manage to be sensationally imaginative and yet at the same time so clearly believable and lived-in that you’ll think you could find them yourself, if you could just get to Platform 9 3/4. The adult actors are simply and completely perfect. Richard Harris turns in an excellent performance as headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Maggie Smith brings just the right dry asperity to Professor McGonagall, and Coltrane is a half-giant with a heart to match as Hagrid. Alan Rickman provides shivers as potions master Professor Snape, and the brief glimpse of will make you glad you’ll be seeing more of her in future movies. And the kids are all just fine, though here they’re mostly called upon to look either astonished or resolute.

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The Journey From Platform Nine And Three

• In the book Harry first learns about the connection between Dumbledore and Flamel on the back of his chocolate frogs card. In the film, it is Hermione who comes across the name in a book she picked up for ‘light reading’. In a deleted scene however you see Harry finding the name on a chocolate frog card after which the trio runs off to the library, so it only appears as a “mistake”.
• In the book, Neville comes into the compartment where Harry and Ron are sitting asking if they have seen his toad, which was omitted. Later Hermione shows up again with Neville asking the same question. In the film, Hermione shows up by herself asking if anyone has seen a toad, and that a boy named Neville has lost one.

The Letters From No One

• Dudley appears to know about Hogwarts, as he stares worriedly at Harry like his parents do. In the books, Dudley does not know about magic when Harry gets his letter.
• Harry does not get Dudley’s second bedroom until the second film, with the latter film implying that the Dursleys supplied Harry with the room after the First Year.
• The scene where Harry and the Dursleys go to a random hotel to get away from the letters was omitted from the film, so instead they went straight to the hut.
• Because of this, Dudley’s line of “Daddy’s gone mad, hasn’t he?!” was moved to immediately after Uncle Vernon declares that they are going to move far enough away to ensure that the owls can’t find them. In the book, Dudley says this line only after Vernon pauses driving long enough to do a glance around to see if any owls are following them on a bridge.

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Us Publication And Reception

Scholastic Corporation bought the U.S. rights at the Bologna Book Fair in April 1997 for US$105,000, an unusually high sum for a children’s book. Scholastic’s Arthur Levine thought that “philosopher” sounded too archaic for readers and after some discussion , the American edition was published in September 1998 under the title Rowling suggested, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Rowling later said that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time.Philip Nel has pointed out that the change lost the connection with alchemy and the meaning of some other terms changed in translation, for example from “crumpet” to “muffin“. While Rowling accepted the change from both the British English “mum” and Seamus Finnigan’s Irish variant “mam” to the American variant “mom” in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, she vetoed this change in the later books, which was then reversed in later editions of Philosopher’s Stone. However, Nel considered that Scholastic’s translations were considerably more sensitive than most of those imposed on British English books of the time and that some other changes could be regarded as useful copyedits. Since the UK editions of early titles in the series were published months prior to the American versions, some American readers became familiar with the British English versions owing to having bought them from online retailers.

Design And Special Effects

Judianna Makovsky served as the costume designer. She re-designed the Quidditch robes, having initially planned to use those shown on the cover of the American book, but deemed them “a mess.” Instead, she dressed the Quidditch players in “preppie sweaters, 19th-century fencing breeches and arm guards.” Production designer Stuart Craig built the sets at Leavesden Studios, including Hogwarts Great Hall, basing it on many English cathedrals. Although originally asked to use an existing old street to film the Diagon Alley scenes, Craig decided to build his own set, comprising Tudor, Georgian and Queen Anne architecture.

Columbus originally planned to use both animatronics and CGI animation to create the magical creatures, including Fluffy. Nick Dudman, who worked on Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, was given the task of creating the needed prosthetics, with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop providing creature effects. John Coppinger stated that the magical creatures that needed to be created had to be designed multiple times. The film features nearly 600 special effects shots, involving numerous companies. Industrial Light & Magic created Lord Voldemort‘s face on the back of Quirrell, Rhythm & Hues animated Norbert and Sony Pictures Imageworks produced the Quidditch scenes.

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Talk To Your Kids About

• Families can talk about the Harry Potter book series that inspired Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the other movies. Do you like the books or movies better?

• Which themes from the first in the series pop up again in later installments?

• What do you think about Harry and his friends going away to school? Would you ever want to do something like that?

• How do Harry and his friends demonstrate teamwork, perseverance, and courage in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone? Why are these important character strengths?

• In theaters: November 16, 2001
• On DVD or streaming: May 28, 2002
• MPAA explanation: some scary moments and mild language
• : January 6, 2023

• Even decades later, one of the best family films ever made.

  age 6+

• Pure, sweet imagination for both kids and adults.

  age 8+

• Action- and creature-packed Potter sequel.

  age 8+

Differences From The Book

Columbus repeatedly checked with Rowling to make sure he was getting minor details correct. Kloves described the film as being “really faithful” to the book. He added dialogue, of which Rowling approved. One of the lines originally included had to be removed after Rowling told him that it would directly contradict an event in the then-unreleased fifth Harry Potter novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The book’s timeline is not enforced in the film. In the book, Harry’s eleventh birthday is in 1991. On the film set for 4 Privet Drive, Dudley’s certificates from primary school bear the year 2001.

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Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone Ending Explained

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has an ending that could mark the end of Harry’s story, but the movie also sets up the rest of the franchise.

The ending of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has much more significance to the rest of the series than audiences may assume. As the first movie in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has the benefit of knowing the series roadmap, as J.K. Rowling had already published the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,by the time it was released. The first movie could also be considered a stand-alone work. Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, and his friends enter the widening world of wizardry and magic, he discovers what happened to his parents, and he confronts and seemingly defeats Voldemort for good.

There’s no mention of Death Eaters, Deathly Hallows, or Horcruxes in Harry Potter‘s first movie, and yet the groundwork for the series is laid down in just two and a half hours. Many of the characters’ motivations are shown in the first Harry Potter adaptation, and the plot’s forward momentum commences in the movie as eight installments worth of magic and adventure-filled storytelling begin. While the franchise’s details are not completely revealed here, the central storyline can be seen in a deeper analysis of the ending of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as Dumbledore , Harry, Voldemort, and their linked relationship are all present on the screen.

What Happened To Peeves

Peeves the Poltergeist doesnt make an appearance in The Philosophers Stone, which is a tragedy, because he was one of the best sources of comic relief in the books. Peeves’ pranks and songs always struck the perfect blend of malicious-but-humorous. So why was he cut out?

Late British comedian Rik Mayall was actually cast to play Peeves inthe movie but was cut after three weeks of filming. Apparently he kept making the extras giggle when they werent supposed to. Who knows if thats actually why his part was cut, but he did later go on to say that the film was s**t, so maybe it was for the best after all.

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Norbert The Norwegian Ridgeback

• The part where the dragon Norbert is sent to Charlie Weasley is omitted. Instead, Hagrid later revealed to the Trio that Dumbledore sent him to Romania .
• In the book, when Harry and Hermione get detention, it is because they left the Invisibility Cloak in the Astronomy tower while sending Norbert to Charlie Weasley and were caught by Argus Filch at the foot of the stairs. In the film, they get detention because Draco Malfoy saw them in Hagrid’s hut past midnight .
• In the book, Neville was also given detention for being out of bed because he was trying to warn Harry about Malfoy and was caught by Professor McGonagall.
• Ron is also with them in the film, while in the book he was recovering in the hospital wing after being bitten by Norbert. Therefore, in the film, Ron gets detention instead of Neville.

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