Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth film in the popular Harry Potter series based on the books by J.K. Rowling. It was directed by Mike Newell and was released on November 18, 2005. It is rated PG-13 in the United States, 12A in the UK and Ireland and M15 in Australia. Three days after its release, the film had grossed approximately $102 million at the North American box office, the highest first-week tally for a Harry Potter film.

Taglines: Difficult times lie ahead, Harry and Everything is about to change.

The movie starts with an enormous snake (Voldemort's pet snake Nagini) slithering past a derelict graveyard beside an abandoned manor (The Riddle House). Frank Bryce, the caretaker, is boiling water for tea when he sees a light shining in the Riddle house. He assumes there are vandals who come to make trouble in the old manor. Frank then goes to the house and enters. He goes up the stairs and hears three men talking in a room. Frank goes nearer to have a closer look, and we see Wormtail and an unknown man (who is later revealed as Barty Crouch Jr) talking to an unseen Voldemort sitting on an armchair. Nagini then slithers past Frank, comes in and tells her master (speaking in Parseltongue) in the chair that the Muggle caretaker is outside the room. Voldemort kills Frank with the Avada Kedavra curse.

Miles away, Harry Potter awakens at Ron Weasley's house and is greeted by Hermione Granger. The Weasleys (Mr Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George), Harry and Hermione rendezvous with the Diggorys (Amos Diggory and his son, Cedric) at dawn to attend the Quidditch World Cup. The group arrive on top of a hill with an old boot, which turns out to be a Portkey, which transports them to the moor where the World Cup is to be held. Upon arrival, we see a multitude of cultures attending the event (i.e. a flag of Italy is seen, as well as African men in tribal clothes). The arena is a huge stadium that seems to be dug out in a hill beside the moor. The Quidditch World Cup is brief, since we only see the introduction of the two teams (Ireland and Bulgaria), most prominently, the Bulgarian Team Seeker, Viktor Krum.

After the World Cup, a riot suddenly erupts at the campsite. Masked wizards (The Death Eaters) carrying torches ambush the area and burn the tents. Harry gets separated from his friends and gets knocked unconscious by the fleeing crowd. Later, when the campsite is entirely burned down, Barty Crouch Jr, arrives and conjures the Dark Mark. Harry wakes up and sees the man, but Barty Jr runs away. Ron and Hermione find Harry and they almost got stunned by spells by the Ministry, who Apparated on the scene. Afterwards, Harry and his friends take the Hogwarts Express back to the new school term. Hermione advises Harry to write to Sirius Black about the mysterious events happening, and Harry sends a letter via Hedwig.

When the students arrive at the castle, they are suddenly amazed by the arrival of two magical modes of transport: a pristine carriage driven by seven white flying winged horses, and a majestic galleon rising up beneath the Black Lake. Dumbledore then explains that Hogwarts was chosen to host the Triwizard Tournament, a centuries old magical contest created to promote inter-school friendship and international magical cooperation between the three prestigious magic schools of Europe. Dumbledore then introduces the two visiting schools: the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic (presented in the film as an all-girls school) with their Headmistress, the towering yet elegant Madame Maxime together with the beautiful Fleur Delacour; and the Durmstrang Institute for Magical Study (portrayed in the movie as a military academy) headed by their Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, and to the surprise of Ron, Viktor Krum. After the introduction, the Goblet of Fire is presented to the entire student body.

The next day, Harry and his friends learn about the Unforgivable Curses from Mad-Eye Moody, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Soon after, the Champion selection is about to commence. The Goblet of Fire has chosen Viktor Krum for Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts Hufflepuff Cedric Diggory. When everyone thinks the selection is over, the Goblet spits out Harry's name, causing an uproar between the three school heads. Barty Crouch, however, states that the rules of the Tournament are absolute, and that Harry is officially a Champion.

In the First Task, the four Champions are to retrieve a golden egg from a dragon, which contains a clue to the next task, which is to be held in February. Hagrid asks Ron to tell Harry about the dragons beforehand, but Harry never gets the message as for a time the two boys are having a feud.In Christmas, the traditional Yule Ball is held, which causes some hormonal adolescent tension on the students, particularly Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Later, it is revealed that the egg is a clue to the Second Task: a song which can only be heard underwater. The Second Task turns out to be an underwater rescue taking place in the Black Lake with a special person assigned to each Champion: Ron for Harry, Hermione for Krum, Cho Chang for Cedric, and Fleur's younger sister, Gabrielle. Fleur failed to save her sister, leaving Harry the task of saving both Ron and Gabrielle Delacour. Despite finishing last, Harry was awarded second place (tied for first in the book) for his "moral fiber".

After the Second Task, Harry discovers the dead body of Barty Crouch lying on the forest floor. He goes to Dumbledore's office to inform the headmaster but he overhears a heated conversation between Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Moody sees Harry and the conversation ends. Dumbledore asks Harry to wait in his office while he attends to the Minister. It is here that Harry stumbles upon the Pensieve, allowing Harry to witness an event that Dumbledore experienced years ago: the Ministry trial exposing Barty Crouch's son to be a traitor. Finally, the Third Task is a race inside a giant maze. The objective is getting to the Triwizard Cup hidden deep within the labyrinth. Cedric and Harry go first, followed by Krum, then Fleur. Inside, the walls constantly shift to confuse the Champions, and during the competition, Viktor Krum is possessed by the Imperius Curse and begins attacking those he comes in contact with. Fleur becomes victim to Krum, and is engulfed by the magical hedges. Harry manages to save Fleur by conjuring red sparks where the hedges swallowed her. Afterwards, when Cedric and Harry dispose of Viktor, who tried to attack them, they both race to the visible blue Triwizard Cup. But when Cedric falls and Harry assists him, they agree to put aside competition and reach for the cup together.

Instead of arriving back at the entrance to the maze, Harry and Cedric are transported to the graveyard of the Riddle family. Cedric is killed by Peter Pettigrew using Avada Kedavra, who then binds Harry to the Riddle tombstone and uses his blood as one of the ingredients for a ritual to revive his weakened master, Lord Voldemort. Voldemort is finally resurrected and calls forth his Death Eaters. His followers Apparate on the scene, and one by one, Voldemort painfully unmasks them and decries their meager efforts to force his return. Harry discovers Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, along with familiar names (Macnair and Crabbe). Voldemort then attempts to destroy Harry in a direct wizard's duel, but Harry is able to unleash the spirits (Priori Incantatem) that Voldemort has killed over the years, allowing him time to grab Cedric's body and the Triwizard Cup, and arrive back at Hogwarts.

The crowd is shocked by the lifeless body of Cedric Diggory, and a distraught Harry is escorted out of the scene by Mad-Eye Moody back to the castle. After a few moments, the plot unravels as Moody is revealed to be Barty Crouch Jr, thanks to the intervention of Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape. Towards the end, a sort of funeral tribute is given in memory of Cedric Diggory with Dumbledore delivering a moving eulogy, and the entire student body in attendance. The film ends with the departure of the two visiting schools, with every student parting on good terms (i.e. Fleur and Gabrielle kissing Ron goodbye; Krum giving Hermione a piece of parchment with the promise that she write to him). As the students applaud the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students, Harry, Ron, and Hermione reminisce the past year and look forward to their next school term as they watch the Durmstrang ship dive beneath the lake and the Beauxbatons carriage flying off into the sunset.

In the runup to the movie, a Canadian folk group called the Wyrd Sisters filed a US$40-million lawsuit against Warner Brothers, the North American distributor of the film, Jarvis Cocker from Pulp and Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway of Radiohead for the use of their group's name. In the book, the band is called the "Weird Sisters" after the witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth but was reportedly renamed the "Wyrd Sisters" for the film. Before the film was released, however, Warner Brothers removed all references to either name for the band. Nevertheless, the Wyrd Sisters moved for an injunction in a Canadian court to prevent distribution of the film in Canada. This motion was dismissed by an Ontario judge.

The film was received very positively by critics, garnering an 89% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The film was praised for being smarter and much wittier than its predecessors, and the actors were credited with some of the most human performances in all of the movies so far. Ralph Fiennes in particular was greeted enthusiastically for his sinister and quietly evil portrayal of Lord Voldemort, Harry's arch-nemesis. Brendan Gleeson was also much-loved as the slightly off-kilter Mad-Eye Moody, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

However, there were some complaints. The movie was deemed to be too clunky and jerky in its making by some (in the lack of build up for the Third Task, for example). While most greeted Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort with applause, some believed he was not giving off the air of someone to be feared. While fans enjoy Alan Rickman's portrayal as Snape, there are complaints that he didn't have enough screen time. Furthermore, Michael Gambon's more aggressive portrayal of quirky yet endearing Albus Dumbledore has been greeted with disappointment by some.

After an opening day of $40m at the North American box office, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is well on its way to a successful run at the box office, and has already set numerous records including the highest non-May opening weekend in the US and the most successful opening ever in the UK, earning £14.9m in its opening weekend. As of 10 January 2006, the Goblet of Fire has earned over US$852 million worldwide according to Boxofficemojo, making it the highest grossing film released in 2005. This includes $281 million in the U.S. and Canada. At 11 December 2005 other tallies included $70 million in the UK, $50 million in Germany and $41 million in Japan. In Italy, the wizard blockbuster proved to be the country's best ever opening, taking $9.4m (£5.5m), while in Spain it took in $8m (£4.6m). In the 10 films of 2005, Goblet of Fire is second only to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

The film will be released on DVD on March 7, 2006. It will be available in one- and two-disc editions, as well as part of an 8-disc boxset that includes all four films to date.