How to Watch the Harry Potter Movies in Order

Now eleven films deep, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is one of the largest film franchises ever in terms of volume — and each of the movies have earned a pretty penny at the box office along the way. But if you're just getting started with these movies, it can be a bit daunting to figure out where to start because there are actually multiple valid options to consider.

The Harry Potter movie franchise is based on the incredibly popular series of novels by JK Rowling about a child of destiny (that would be Harry Potter) born into a secret world of magical folks. The series follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his BFFs Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) as he attends a magical boarding school called Hogwarts and learns about his magical abilities, all while an evil wizard named Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, among others) seeks a way to murder Harry as part of his quest to dominate the world.

Harry Potter first hit the big screen in 2001 with the intent of releasing a movie per year until finished — having your eight-movie franchise centerpieces be children meant they had to move fast or the kids would outgrow their characters. Warner Bros. didn't quite get them out at the pace it wanted, but it came pretty close with eight movies in 10 years.

ALSO READ: Everything we know about the HBO and Max Harry Potter TV show

And then Warner Bros. kept going with Fantastic Beasts, a series of original spinoffs not based on any existing stories, which would focus on a magical man called Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), and his run-ins with a particularly bad wizard called Grindelwald, which is its own complicated and epic saga set decades before Harry Potter was born.

But where should you start if you've never watched any of this stuff before? There are two options: chronologically, with the first Fantastic Beasts movie, or in order of release, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Normally I'd be all about the chronological order, but the Wizarding World is a special case because it's currently incomplete. The Fantastic Beasts story is mid-stride right now, with no further movies on the way, and so starting there would probably be pretty awkward. Plus, they kinda assume you already know who folks like Grindelwald and Dumbledore are.

With that being the case, we'd recommend starting the Harry Potter franchise with the actual Harry Potter films, and then circling back to Fantastic Beasts. With the latter's story unfinished, you're just not going to get much benefit from watching it before the originals.

Where to stream the Harry Potter movies

The Harry Potter franchise is currently available on two streaming platforms. Since these films were produced by Warner Bros, one of them is Max — you can find all eight Harry Potter flicks and the three Fantastic Beasts movies in Max's Wizarding World portal. 

The Harry Potter movies are also available with a Peacock subscription, but you won't find Fantastic Beasts there. But Peacock has Murder, She Wrote and Max doesn't, which isn't the worst tradeoff. And Peacock is cheaper than Max, so if you just want to watch the mainline Harry Potter flicks you can save a few bucks with Universal's streaming service.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 

Metacritic: 65

That very first Harry Potter movie, from Home Alone director Chris Columbus, has been both criticized and praised for how it feels like a verbatim adaptation of the book — the fans generally liked that, and it made the whole thing a bit dry for everyone else. But that thoroughness means it works very well as an introduction to Hogwarts, the series' primary location, and the universe. But since Harry and his pals are only 11 years old in this one, it's much more of a children's movie than the later films are.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Metacritic: 63

Chamber of Secrets was also directed by Columbus and thus has that same kids movie vibe, and a similar amount of fealty to the source material. But whereas Rowling really had no idea where she was headed when she wrote that first book, the franchise lore starts to take shape during this adventure, in which Harry and his friends attempt to explore the Chamber of Secrets — and discover that some of its secrets are about Harry himself.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Metacritic: 82

The feel of the series took a turn with the third film, from director Alfonso Cuaron. A supposedly deadly prisoner has escaped from the magical prison of Azkaban, and apparently he's got plans for Harry. This one, which Cuaron shot with a shaky cam, loses some key details from the book, but it's probably the best movie of the series in terms of craft, and its time loop story is really clever.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Metacritic: 81

In this film, Hogwarts is host to the Triwizard, with each of the three European wizard schools putting forth a champion. But in a twist, after the Goblet of Fire lists the three champions, it calls out a fourth: Harry Potter, who isn't even old enough to be eligible. Nonetheless, the first Quadwizard tournament is on, and it's awesome and full of twists and turns — this one is my personal favorite Harry Potter flick.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Metacritic: 81

With this one, director David Yates took over directing duties, and he hasn't given up that spot since — he directed the last four Harry Potter movies, and all three Fantastic Beasts movies. And Order of the Phoenix marks the beginning of the third act of the series, in a sense. The true threat from Voldemort and his group of cronies made itself known at the end of the last movie, and Harry, realizing the adults simply are not going to save them, gathers a group of his friends to secretly train in magical warfare in preparation for the ultimate showdown against Voldemort. And they're gonna need it.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Metacritic: 78

Things are getting bad now, with Voldemort's people making power moves all over the Wizarding World. And at Hogwarts, Harry, Hermione, and Ron must unravel the secrets of the mysterious titular "half-blood prince" — doing so, they hope, will help them figure out what Voldemort's weakness is. But this story also wraps up with probably the most impactful moment in the series — I won't spoil it here, but get ready to experience some emotions when you get to the end of this one. It's a "Luke, I am your father" sort of shocker.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2

Metacritic: 65 for Part 1, 85 for Part 2

The stakes are simple now. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have to find and destroy each of Voldemort's horcruxes, which contain a piece of his soul, before Voldemort and his followers take over the world. As these things usually do, it comes right down to the wire, and the series wraps up with an awesome and massive magic fight that seriously wrecks Hogwarts. Despite having seen seemingly an infinite number of epic CGI battles of all kinds in movies since then, the Battle of Hogwarts actually remains a fairly unique visual experience — there just aren't a lot of big-budget movies in which people fling brightly colored lights at each other with magic wands. It's not a perfect finale, but it's a memorable one, and having an extra hour and change to tell this story (instead of trying to cram it into three hours) really benefits it. 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Metacritic: 66

This prequel, set about 70 years before the main Harry Potter series in 1925, actually serves as a decent introduction to the Wizarding World, because it starts as just a story about a guy with a suitcase full of magical creatures who escape and need to be retrieved. For registered Potterheads, though, it had the added bonus of taking us to America, a place we hadn't yet seen in this franchise, and of course Newt ends up tangling with a mysterious dark sorcerer called Grindelwald — he who would later train and pass on his knowledge to his student Voldemort. Overall, though, it's a fairly light affair compared with the latter Harry Potter flicks.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Metacritic: 52

This time out, things are getting serious. Grindewald — played by Colin Farrell in the first movie before revealing Johnny Depp underneath — has escaped captivity and has started recruiting followers who believe, like he does, that magical people should reveal themselves to and rule over non-magic folks. Dealing with this kind of thing is not Newt's specialty, but his pal Dumbledore needs him. Depp's presence in the film was a big distraction at the time, because of legal issues with his ex-wife Amber Heard. His part probably plays a little differently now that that's behind us, but it's a little bit of a moot point since they recast Grindelwald again after this one — he's a shapeshifter, so it's not even that big of a deal, really.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Metacritic: 47

What began as a fun and whimsical little side story has become a very gritty and serious epic — too gritty and serious. Grindelwald's revolution continues with Mads Mikkelson as the best version of the sorcerer yet, and Dumbledore looks for a way to break a spell that prevents him from fighting the baddie. But at this point, we were all just worn out from this stuff to care. This flick was a box office failure, and critics didn't like it, and there's been no movement on a fourth film since this one was released even though the story isn't close to being over. That's why it's really best to not watch this franchise in chronological order: There's a big hole in the middle that may never be filled, and that's kinda awkward.