So, you want to know how to watch the Harry Potter movies in order. With an epic movie franchise like this, there’s always room to go back to the beginning and watch the story unfold over the course of the series. Given that the Harry Potter saga spans eight films (and three spin-offs), it’s no surprise that you don’t have an exact pinpoint of where each film comes in in the sequence.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (or Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone if you’re in the UK) kicked things off, when the three friends were remarkably young and fresh. The beloved series then continues throughout Harry’s seven years at Hogwarts, during which he and his friends learn all there is to know about magic from such luminaries as Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape.
It’s been a full 10 years since the final movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) was released, but the previous three Fantastic Beasts movies have since appeared. And although it has now been announced that there won’t be another Fantastic Beasts installment, there have been some whispers about a Harry Potter reboot that the 11 films on this list could continue to be added in the future.
All of which is to say that figuring out how to watch the Harry Potter movies in order is almost as difficult as figuring out how to watch the Star Wars movies in order and how to watch the Marvel movies in order (so it’s good to have guides for those, too). But the advice here tells you everything you need to know about how to get the most out of the Harry Potter movies, whether you want to watch them in chronological or release date order. We’ll also go over where you can stream the movies, including their US home on Peacock.
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How to watch the Harry Potter movies in order
Harry Potter movies in chronological order
How to watch the Harry Potter movies in chronological order
Want to know how to watch the Harry Potter movies in chronological order, as well as the Fantastic Beasts prequel series? Allow us to point you in the right direction.
There have been eight Harry Potter films, and three installments in the Fantastic Beasts saga so far — the third installment in that series, called The Secrets of Dumbledore, is out now to watch on HBO Max, and is set in 1932.
Warner Bros. It planned to release five Fantastic Beasts epic films, but it was recently reported that this is no longer the case, and the series has ended in its third installment. The Secrets of Dumbledore was the lowest-grossing film of the franchise and had mixed reviews, which may have contributed to the decision.
To make things simple in the list below, we’ve decided to include everything Harry Potter that can be watched right now – including the popular play, The Cursed Child.
- Fantastic beasts and where to find them (set in 1926)
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (set in 1927)
- Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets (set in 1932)
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (set in 1991-1992)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (set in 1992-93)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (set in 1992-1994)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (set in 1994-95)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (set in 1995-96)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (set in 1996-97)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One (set in 1997-98)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (set in 1997-98)
- Harry Potter and the cursed Child (a hit play, set in 2017-2020)
Aside from the occasional flashback, the Hogwarts films in the series follow a simple linear structure – thanks mostly to Rowling’s decision to use the British School calendar as the framework for their narrative. This means that each of the seven books in the Potter series focus on a different school year (running from September to August), starting in 1991, when Harry was 11 years old.
While the films were made in the 2000s – and are as anachronistic as cell phones or music in the 21st century – they likely follow the same carefully crafted timeline as Rowling’s books. This places the Harry Potter films some 70 years after their Fantastic Beasts counterparts.
And the Harry Potter story continues beyond the final reckoning with Lord Voldemort – albeit not on screen – thanks to the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The story picks up in 2017, during the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and now features Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco Malfoy and their children.
Harry Potter movies in order of release
How to watch the Harry Potter movies in order of release
There are no complicated tangled timelines to deal with if you watch pottery movies in order of release date. They are two distinct series, with a group of prequels that follow on from the main franchise.
This means that there is no need to introduce any kind of Star Wars-style ‘Machete Order’ just yet. But since Warner. It seems Bruce is keen to continue working with Rowling, and there are rumors of a Harry Potter reboot. It looks like this could be a rehash of the original films, but it’s not yet clear if this will make an impact on this list or sit alongside it. Don’t worry though, we’ll keep an eye on the situation.
It’s also interesting to note that there are more Harry Potter films than books, with the final novel The Deathly Hallows being split into two parts (a trick repeated by both the Twilight series and The Hunger Games) due to having so much more of a story to fit.
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One (2010)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
- Fantastic beasts and where to find them (2016)
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
- Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets (2022)
Harry Potter movies: where to watch them online
How to watch Harry Potter movies online
All eight Harry Potter films are available to stream through Peacock (Opens in a new tab). They were, for a long time, available on HBO Max, but as of the end of August, Peacock is their only US home.
This is unfortunate as HBO Max used to be the home to the entire Harry Potter series and all three Fantastic Beasts movies, which means they were all in the same location. The Fantastic Beasts trilogy is still available to stream on HBO Max (Opens in a new tab) in the US, so if you want to run a marathon, you’ll need both.
In the UK, all of the films plus the two Fantastic Beasts films are available for streaming on NOW TV (Opens in a new tab), and you can rent or buy them from Amazon, iTunes, and more. The complete Harry Potter series is also available on Blu-Ray (Opens in a new tab).
Rank Harry Potter movies
Every Harry Potter Movie Ranked
As with the Harry Potter books, opinions on the best entries in the series are varied and subjective. As a result, ranking the Harry Potter movies by IMDb user scores reveals a remarkable consistency in fan response, with all eight installments collated between 7.4 and 8.1 out of 10. For our own opinions on the subject, see our in-depth article on the top ranked Harry Potter movies From the worst to the best.
The three Fantastic Beasts films are the least beloved versions of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World made, a fact that’s reflected in the nearly 20% drop in box office hits compared to its predecessor, and the third film down 38% from the box office of the second film. Office revenue (according to figures from Box Office Mojo (Opens in a new tab)).
The most successful of the three, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, grossed less than all but one of the Potter films (Prisoner of Azkaban). But, given that it had 12 years of inflation on its side, it’s debatable whether it actually outperformed the previous film.