The film that started it all is back in Portuguese cinemas, and it runs longer this time
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone returns to the big screen in Portugal from 27 to 30 August, a limited run for the saga's 25th anniversary, with behind-the-scenes footage that was not in the original.
Some of the people who saw this in a cinema in 2001 aged ten will now be taking a ten-year-old of their own. That is the audience Warner Bros. is counting on, and the sums look about right: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone returns to Portuguese screens in a limited run from 27 to 30 August, part of the saga’s 25th anniversary.
Four days. This is not a rerelease with a commercial run behind it, it is a short window, which is the bit worth knowing before you leave it for later.
What is different about this version
Twelve minutes of behind-the-scenes footage added to the screening. It is not material woven into the story and it is not an extended cut: it is production content of the kind that used to live on DVD extras, now going out on a big screen where people still sit through to the end.
The film itself is the 2001 one, directed by Chris Columbus, with Daniel Radcliffe in his first outing in the part, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson beside him, and a roll call of British actors nobody then suspected would be tied to it for life.
Where and when
Screenings have been announced by the NOS Cinemas and UCI Cinemas chains, alongside other exhibitors. Times vary by venue and are usually only locked in nearer the date, so it is worth checking the week before rather than on the day itself.
The Portuguese run sits inside a bigger global operation: all eight films roll through cinemas between 27 August and 3 September in various markets, timed around 1 September, the day the Hogwarts Express leaves King’s Cross. In Portugal, the announced window for the first film is those four days.
If your summer has been mostly catalogue-watching at home, here is something with a fixed date on it, in a month that already brought a new DC series to HBO Max.
By Lucy Bennett
Photo: Bill Peloquin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
