After being blocked from enteringPlatform Nine and Three-Quarters atKing's Cross railway station, Harry and Ron fly the car to Hogwarts, where they crash into theWhomping Willow. Ron's wand is broken, and they each receive detention, during which Harry hears a strange voice and subsequently finds caretakerArgus Filch's cat, Mrs Norris,petrified with a message written in blood: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir... beware." One of Hogwarts' founders,Salazar Slytherin, supposedly constructed a secret Chamber containing a monster that only his heir can control, capable of purging the school ofMuggle-borns. Suspecting Malfoy to be the heir, Harry, Ron, and Hermione plan to question him.
Harry's arm is broken by a rogueBludger in aQuidditch match; while recovering, Dobby visits him and reveals he closed the barrier and made the rogue Bludger to force him to leave the school, in addition to the Chamber having been opened in the past. After students are found petrified, Harry is suspected of being the heir of Slytherin aftercommunicating with a snake - an ability shared with Slytherin. Disguised asCrabbe and Goyle, usingpolyjuice potion, which they brew in a bathroom haunted by the ghost ofMoaning Myrtle, Harry and Ron learn Malfoy is not the heir, but that a Muggle-born girl died when the Chamber was last opened 50 years ago. Harry finds an enchanted diary owned by a former studentTom Marvolo Riddle, who blames a youngRubeus Hagrid for opening the Chamber, leading to his expulsion.
When Hermione is petrified, Harry and Ron question Hagrid, who is sent toAzkaban by Minister of MagicCornelius Fudge, while Lucius forces the school governors to remove Dumbledore from office. Hagrid discreetly tells the boys to "follow the spiders"; they venture into theForbidden Forest and meet Hagrid's spider,Aragog, who reveals Hagrid's innocence and provides another clue to the Chamber's monster. A book page in Hermione's hand identifies the monster as abasilisk, a giant serpent that kills people who make direct eye contact; the petrified victims only saw it indirectly.
Ginny is taken into the Chamber, and the teachers nominate Lockhart to save her; Harry and Ron find Lockhart preparing to flee and expose him as a fraud. Deducing that Myrtle was the Muggle-born girl that the basilisk killed, they find the Chamber's entrance in the bathroom she haunts. Once inside, Lockhart tries to erase Harry and Ron's memories and take the credit, but his spell backfires when he uses Ron's broken wand, erasing his memory and causing a cave-in, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart.
Harry enters the Chamber alone and finds Ginny unconscious and Riddle - Slytherin's heir and Voldemort's younger self - who reveals he used the diary to manipulate Ginny into reopening the Chamber. Harry expresses his loyalty to Dumbledore, whose petphoenixFawkes arrives with theSorting Hat. Riddle summons the basilisk, who Fawkes blinds, and the Sorting Hat produces theSword of Gryffindor, which Harry uses to kill the basilisk after a battle, but is poisoned by one of its fangs. Despite being injured, Harry stabs the diary with the basilisk fang, destroying Riddle and reviving Ginny. Harry is healed by Fawkes' tears and returns to Hogwarts with his friends and a baffled Lockhart. Harry learns that Dobby's master is Lucius, whom he accuses of planting the diary in Ginny's cauldron, and tricks him into freeing Dobby. Dumbledore is reinstated as headmaster, the basilisk's victims are healed, Hermione reunites with her friends, and Hagrid is released from Azkaban.
Hugh Grant was rumoured to be the first choice to play the role ofGilderoy Lockhart,[29] but due to reported scheduling conflicts he was unable to play the character.[30][31] Columbus later denied that Grant had been considered and stated that they had not met.[32]Alan Cumming andRupert Everett were also considered for Lockhart. Cumming backed out over a salary dispute.[33] Jason Isaacs also auditioned for Lockhart, but was offered for the role of Lucius Malfoy instead. He was reluctant to take the role because he was already signed on to playCaptain Hook inPeter Pan (2003), but his family convinced him to take the role and accepted it.[34] Before Coulson was cast as Tom Riddle,James McAvoy andEddie Redmayne – who later playedNewt Scamander in theFantastic Beasts films – auditioned for the role.[24][35]
Production designerStuart Craig returned for the sequel to design new elements previously not seen in the first film. He designedthe Burrow based onArthur Weasley's interest in Muggles, built vertically out of architectural salvage.[36] Mr. Weasley's flying car was created from a 1962Ford Anglia 105E.[37] TheChamber of Secrets, measuring over 76 metres (249 ft) long and 36.5 metres (119.8 ft) wide, was the biggest set created for the saga.[38] Dumbledore's office, which houses theSorting Hat and theSword of Gryffindor, was also built for the film.[39]
Lindy Hemming was the costume designer forChamber of Secrets.[40] She retained many of the characters' already established appearances, and chose to focus on the new characters introduced in the sequel. Gilderoy Lockhart's wardrobe incorporated bright colours, in contrast with the "dark, muted or sombre colours" of the other characters. Branagh said, "We wanted to create a hybrid between a period dandy and someone who looked as if they could fit into Hogwarts."[41] Hemming also perfected Lucius Malfoy's costume. One of the original concepts was for him to wear apinstripe suit, but was changed to furs and a snake head cane in order to remark his aristocrat quality and to reflect a "sense of the old."[41]
Roger Pratt was brought on as director of photography forChamber of Secrets, in order to give the film "a darker and edgier feel" than its predecessor, which reflected "the growth of the characters and the story."[41] DirectorChris Columbus opted to use handheld cameras to allow more freedom in movement,[55] which he considered "a departure for [him] as a filmmaker."[41]University of Cambridge linguistics professorFrancis Nolan createdParseltongue, the language spoken by snakes in the film.[56] Principal photographywrapped in July 2002.[57][58]
Due to the events that take place inHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the film's sound effects were much more expansive than in the previous instalment. Sound designer and supervising sound editorRandy Thom returned for the sequel usingPro Tools to complete the job, which included initial conceptions done atSkywalker Sound in California and primary work done atShepperton Studios in England.[59]
Thom wanted to give theWhomping Willow a voice, a deep growl for which he used his own voice slowed down,equalised and bass-boosted. For themandrakes, he combined baby cries with female screams, in order to "make it just exotic enough so that you think, 'Hmm, I've never heard anything quite likethat before.'"[59]
Thom described thebasilisk as a challenge, "because it's a giant snake, but it's also like a dragon — not many snakes have teeth like that. He had to hiss, he had to roar and there were times at the end when he was in pain." He mixed his own voice, tiger roars, and horse and elephant vocalizations.[59]
Visual effects took nine months to make,[55] until 9 October 2002, when the film was finished.[60]Industrial Light & Magic,Mill Film, theMoving Picture Company (MPC),Cinesite andFramestore CFC handled the approximately 950 visual effect shots in the film.[61][62]Jim Mitchell andNick Davis served as visual effects supervisors. They were in charge of creating theCGI charactersDobby theHouse-elf, the Basilisk and theCornish pixies, among others.[61] Chas Jarrett from MPC served as CGI supervisor, overseeing the approach of any shot that contains CGI in the film.[63] With a crew of 70 people, the company produced 251 shots, 244 of which made it to the film, from September 2001 to October 2002.[64]
The visual effects team worked alongside creature effects supervisorNick Dudman, who devisedFawkes the Phoenix, the Mandrakes,Aragog theAcromantula, and the first 25 feet (8 m) of the Basilisk.[61][65] According to Dudman, Aragog was the most challenging character to create. The giant spider stood 9 feet (3 m) tall with an 18 feet (5 m) foot leg span, each of which had to be controlled by a different team member. The whole creature weighed three quarters of a ton.[61] It took over 15 people to operate the animatronic Aragog on set.[66]
The Whomping Willow sequence required a combination of practical and visual effects. Special effects supervisorJohn Richardson and his team created mechanically operated branches to hit the flying car.[67] A 1:3 scale set was built on stage at Shepperton Studios, which featured the fully-sized top third of the tree with a forced perspective to appear a height of over 100 feet (30 m) high. The courtyard and the tree were built in 3D. Some shots ended up being entirely digital.[64][68] Jarret identified the rendering as "the biggest challenge" of the scene, because "there was just so much going on in [it] ... It was simply massive."[68]
Footage for the film began appearing online in the summer of 2002, with a teaser trailer debuting in cinemas with the release ofScooby-Doo that June.[71] Avideo game based on the film was released in early November 2002 byElectronic Arts for several consoles, includingGameCube,PlayStation 2, andXbox.[72] The film also continued the merchandising success set by its predecessor, with reports of shortages onLego'sChamber of Secrets tie-ins.[73]
The film was originally released in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada on 11 April 2003 on bothVHS and in a two-disc special edition fullscreen/widescreenDVD digipack, which included extended and deleted scenes and interviews.[74] On 11 December 2007, the film was released onBlu-ray.[citation needed] An Ultimate Edition of the film was released on 8 December 2009,[citation needed] featuring new footage, TV spots, an extended version of the film with deleted scenes edited in, and a feature-length specialCreating the World of Harry Potter Part 2: Characters. The film's extended version has a running time of about 174 minutes, which has previously been shown during certain television airings.[75]
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets held itsworld premiere atOdeon Leicester Square on 3 November 2002,[76] and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 15 November 2002.[77] The film broke multiple records upon its opening. In the United States and Canada, the film opened to an $88.4million opening weekend, playing on 8,515 screens at 3,682 theaters, making it the third-largest opening at the time, behindSpider-Man and its predecessorHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.[78] The film would hold the record for having the largest number of screenings until it was surpassed byX2 the next year.[79] It was also No. 1 at the box office for two non-consecutive weekends.[80]Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was the second 2002 film to return to the number one spot, just afterMel Gibson'sSigns. The film joinedDie Another Day andThe Santa Clause 2 to outperform the weak opening ofTreasure Planet.[81] BothHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets andDie Another Day were the most recent films to reclaim the number one spot for six months until June 2003 whenFinding Nemo became the next film to do so.[82] In the United Kingdom, the film broke all opening records that were previously held byPhilosopher's Stone. It made £18.9million during its opening including previews and £10.9million excluding previews.[83] It went on to make £54.8million in the UK; at the time, the fifth-biggest tally of all time in the region.[84]
Internationally, the film earned $59.5 million during its opening weekend.[85] The film earned $3.7 million in Japan, making it the highest opening of any film in the country until it was surpassed a year later byThe Matrix Reloaded.[86] In Malaysia,Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets made a total of $474,000, breakingEraser's record for having the country's biggest opening for anyWarner Bros. film. It would go on to generate a total of $1.03 million in Singapore, becoming the second-highest film opening in the country, afterThe Lost World: Jurassic Park. Meanwhile, the film earned $3.1 million in Taiwan, surpassingThe Mummy Returns by 16%.Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets would then gross over $1.15 million in the Philippines, ranking as an industry high in the country only 5% bigger thanGodzilla.[87] The film made a total of $879.8million worldwide in its original release and $926.2 million after re-releases.[2][88] It was thesecond-highest-grossing film of 2002 worldwide behindThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,[89] and the fourth highest-grossing film in the US and Canada that year with $262.6 million behindSpider-Man,The Two Towers, andStar Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.[90] However, it was the year's number one film outside of America, making $617.2million compared toThe Two Towers' $584.5million.[91]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 237 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though perhaps more enchanting for younger audiences,Chamber of Secrets is nevertheless both darker and livelier than its predecessor, expanding and improving upon the first film's universe."[92] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[93] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+", the only film in theHarry Potter series to receive such grade.[78][94]
Roger Ebert gaveThe Chamber of Secrets 4 out of 4 stars, especially praising the set design.[95]Entertainment Weekly commended the film for being better and darker than its predecessor: "And among the things thisHarry Potter does very well indeed is deepen the darker, more frightening atmosphere for audiences. This is as it should be: Harry's story is supposed to get darker".[96]Richard Roeper praised Columbus' direction and the film's faithfulness to the book, saying: "Chris Columbus, the director, does a real wonderful job of being faithful to the story but also taking it into a cinematic era".[97]Variety said the film was excessively long, but praised it for being darker and more dramatic, saying that its confidence and intermittent flair to give it a life of its own apart from the books was somethingThe Philosopher's Stone never achieved.[98]The Guardian praised the darker storyline, but said that the acting could have been better.[99]
A. O. Scott fromThe New York Times said: "instead of feeling stirred you may feel battered and worn down, but not, in the end, too terribly disappointed".[7]Peter Travers fromRolling Stone condemned the film for being over-long and too faithful to the book: "Once again, director Chris Columbus takes a hat-in-hand approach to Rowling that stifles creativity and allows the film to drag on for nearly three hours".[100]Kenneth Turan from theLos Angeles Times called the film a cliché which is "deja vu all over again, it's likely that whatever you thought of the first production – pro or con – you'll likely think of this one".[101]
^abGray, Brandon (17 November 2002)."Harry Potter Potent with $88.4Million Weekend".Box Office Mojo.Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved22 March 2022.According to opening night audience tracker CinemaScore, Chamber of Secrets garnered an A+ from moviegoers compared to the A that Sorcerer's Stone earned.
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