The Harry Potter franchise is one of the most successful young adult movie franchises in history. Through its 10 movies so far, the series has brought in over $9 billion in its worldwide box office. It is also still going strong as the prequel series Fantastic Beasts still has a lot of its story to tell.
The story of the Boy Wizard started in books, and those novels have sold millions of copies as well, making it one of the best crossover hits in cinema history. While the flagship series has ended, it seems like the end is nowhere in sight yet for The Wizarding World. Here is a look at every Harry Potter movie in chronological order.
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE (2001) - 152 MINUTES
The movie that started it all came in 2001, four years after the publication of the novel. In the film, a young boy named Harry Potter lived with his emotionally abusive aunt and uncle until he learned his parents were great wizards, and he received an invitation to begin studying at Hogwarts, a prestigious wizarding school.
Daniel Radcliffe took on the role of Harry Potter at the young age of 12, along with fellow child actors Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. The cast was rounded out by some of Britain’s top acting talent, and the film went on to an impressive $975 million at the box office for director Chris Columbus.
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (2002) - 161 MINUTES
Released one year after Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Chris Columbus finished up his two-film run with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Columbus had previously worked well with children as a director on films like Home Alone and a writer on Goonies. He was perfect to launch the franchise.
This second movie continued Harry’s learning and discovery of magic. It also showed what dangers he faced in the future as the past of Lord Voldemort, the main antagonist of future movies, was dealt with here. The film made $879 million and was the second highest-grossing film of 2002.
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (2004) - 144 MINUTES
Arguably, the top critically acclaimed movie in the franchise came in 2004 with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While Columbus made the movie mostly about children discovering magic, and kept it solidly in the young adult genre, Alfonso Cuarón took the helm for this one and made one of the most adult films in the series.
Sirius Black, a man who was held at the horrific Azkaban prison, was introduced as Harry’s godfather, and the film changed the tone drastically into something extraordinary. Cuarón only directed one movie, but was the most acclaimed of the franchise’s directors, winning two Oscars for Best Director following this movie.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (2005) - 157 MINUTES
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was the movie that showed that death was possible in the one-time children’s movie series. In this film, Harry took part in a tri-wizarding tournament that saw him battle in a series of tests to determine the school with the best young wizard.
However, that was just to move the plot along as the true importance of this movie, directed by Mike Newell, was to bring Lord Voldemort back from the dead, setting up the main villain for the rest of the series. Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame was a Hogwarts student in this movie, killed in cold blood by the Death Eaters, and Voldemort declared war on all wizards by the end of this film.
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (2007) - 138 MINUTES
Two years later, it was time for the next Harry Potter movie to have the heroes step up and start to fight back. David Yates directed this film and remained with the franchise to the end. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix saw the rise of the powerful Order of the Phoenix to battle the Death Eaters, and Harry learned who his real allies were.
This was the step in Harry’s journey where he found himself betrayed, as the Ministry of Magic refused to believe Voldemort was back and left the Order to fight alone, which resulted in the death of Harry’s beloved godfather Sirius Black.
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (2009) - 153 MINUTES
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came in 2009 and added a new twist into the story. In this film, Dumbledore’s close companion proved to be a possible Death Eater sent into Hogwarts to beat them from within as Snape took center stage. Snape, the Half-Blood Prince, left a notebook behind that Harry found and used to aid him through the year.
By the end of the movie, things looked dire as the Death Eaters began to infiltrate Hogwarts. While Voldemort demanded that Draco Malfoy kill Dumbledore with the wand tied to him, it was Snape that stepped forward and murdered the headmaster, taking away Harry’s beloved mentor and leaving him and his friends alone to battle Voldemort.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: Part 1 (2010) - 146 MINUTES
The final book in the Harry Potter series was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and it was split into two movies. The first of the films came out in 2010 and saw Harry, Hermoine, and Ron on the run after the death of Dumbledore.
This entire movie mostly focused on the relationship between the three leads as their friendship fractures, breaks, and is eventually mended to make them stronger than ever as they return to battle Voldemort and the Death Eaters to end the war once and for all.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: Part 2 (2011) - 130 MINUTES
The final movie in the initial Harry Potter franchise came in 2011 as Harry Potter, and his friends joined forces with the wizards that had survived the Death Eaters to this point. It was the Battle of Hogwarts, and everyone gathered to take on the villains and save their school.
By the end, most characters had their heroic moments, many beloved heroes died in battle, and Harry had his final battle with Voldemort to end the war and save his school and friends. By the final scene, Harry was allowed to live happily ever after.
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (2016) - 132 MINUTES
Five years after the end of the Harry Potter franchise, the world came roaring back to the big screen. This time, it wasn’t based on books of any kind but was instead a story J.K. Rowling created for the big screen. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them told the story of Newt Scamander, whose books about fantastic beasts Harry studied in school.
FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD (2018) - 134 MINUTES
The final movie so far in the Harry Potter world hit theaters in 2018. This was the second movie in the Fantastic Beasts series. While Newt Scamander was still the main protagonist, there was a lot here to set up a battle mentioned in the original Harry Potter movies between Albus Dumbledore and his greatest rival, Gellert Grindelwald.