Harry Potter 3

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

by Steve Kloves, directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Release: 23 May 2004
Format: Feature Film
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: YA and Up
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

Compared to the books, I find the Harry Potter movies drawn-out and boring, but I rewatched this one during the pandemic and found that I enjoyed all three thirteen-year-olds as well as Hagrid, Sirius, Snape, Lupin, and—most of all—the fact that the filmmakers didn’t blithely destroy the single static timeline out of a misplaced sense that time travelers are meant to change the timeline willy-nilly.

— Michael Main

Hang on! That’s not possible. Ancient Runes is at the same time as Divination. You’d have to be in two classes at once.

DEBUT

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (premiered at an unknown movie theater, New York City, 23 May 2004).

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TRANSLATIONS

Translations to Catalan, French, Spanish

PRIOR WORKS: adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling (1999)

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Circa AD 1970 to 1999: presumed to be 1999, the year of the book release

Timeline Models

Single Static Timeline

Time Travel Methods

Magic Time Travel
Wearable Time Object: the time-turner

Themes

Causal Loops: How many causal loops can you spot during Hermione and Harry’s four and a half hours back in time? Start with Harry seeing himself cast a Patronus, which allowed him to later cast a Patronus, so he could see the Patronus, . . .
Self-Visitation: Hermione and Harry

Fictional Tags

Giants: Hagrid
Minotaurs, Centaurs, and Other Mash-Ups: Buckbeak, the hippogriff
Vampires and Soul-Suckers: Dementors
Werecreatures: Lupin
Witches, Warlocks, Wizards, Magicians, etc.

Groupings

Harry Potter (franchise)

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From a Hogwart’s classroom at an unknown time ⋙ to the same location, an hour earlier. Multiple trips. Note: Hermione, so she can take both Runes and Divination.
From the Hogwart’s infirmary, midnight after the capture of Sirius Black ⋙ to the same location, earlier that day, at 7:30 p.m.. Note: Heminone and Harry.