Harry Potterand the Philosopher’s Stone was first published on June 18, 2025, in the UK. Since then, the Harry Potter franchise has gripped imaginations and grown alongside its audience. The original series released seven books and eight movies, both reaching millions of fans all over the world.
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This franchise has led to plenty of movie and book spinoffs,books illustrated with fan art,fanfiction, and amusement park attractions. There have also been so manyHarry Potter games, video and board games alike, like the newHogwarts Legacy. HBO even did an anniversary special:Harry Potter: Return To Hogwarts. Let’s take a look at the original movie series and how they measure up against each other.
8Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
During Harry’s sixth year, he uses an old Potions textbook with tons of notes all over it that help him become Professor Slughorn’s star pupil, which helps him get close to this professor in order to try and obtain an important memory of him speaking with Tom Riddle. This same year, Draco has been trying to kill Dumbledore under Voldemort’s orders since he became a Death Eater.
Professor Snape is the one who ultimately kills Dumbledore under Dumbledore’s own orders, fully cementing Voldemort’s trust in him. However, the “mentor dying in order to save their student” move has been done plenty of times before, making the biggest piece of the story’s climax unsurprising and the ending a letdown since the necklace is a fake.
7Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
In Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, he discovers that his talent for talking with snakes isn’t a common thing in the Wizarding World — a discovery that makes many believe he’s the long-lost descendant of Salazar Slytherin, leaving threatening messages on walls and petrified students in the hallways.
Chamber of Secrets is the last film that featured Richard Harris as the perfect Dumbledore as well as showcasing amazing non-scripted lines. It also shows how great Harry is at Quidditch and Hermione’s sharp mind figuring out how a giant snake is getting around the school. However, out of all eight films, it feels the most like a “filler” movie in the series.
6Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Deathly Hallows Part 2 is the final movie follows Harry, Hermione, and Ron as they try to find and destroy the rest of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Their hunt leads them back to Hogwarts, where everyone readies themselves and the castle for a fight in order to give the Golden Trio time to search. The Battle of Hogwarts ends in Voldemort’s defeat at the hands of Harry.
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Though the battle scenes were breathtaking to watch, the big deviations from the book left many fans disappointed. Peeves wasn’t seen fighting, the battle against Bellatrix was more involved and happened right next to Harry’s duel against Voldemort, who didn’t turn to ashes. The biggest problem was Harry snapping the Elder Wand instead of fixing his original wand and leaving the Elder Wand with Dumbledore.
5Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
Harry’s fourth year brought with it an interesting change of pace at Hogwarts. The school was the host for the Triwizard Tournament along with students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The tournament has three challenges and a Yule Ball. Usually, there are only three champions, one from each school, however, Harry finds himself as an unwilling fourth participant.
This is the first glimpse of budding feelings between the girls and boys as well as other wizarding schools. The audience also gets to see the successful attempt at Voldemort’s return. The third-longest book in the series meant a lot of great book material wouldn’t ultimately make it into the film, such as the full Quidditch game at the beginning — or Harry’s full experience in the maze. These omissions, while understandable, brought the movie down a bit.
4Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
Order of the Phoenix finds Harry in his fifth year, and the previously unknown connection between him and Voldemort begins to make itself known. Harry juggles mood swings while a ministry employee named Umbridge becomes a professor at Hogwarts and slowly begins to change rules. The minister is in denial of Voldemort’s return and thinks Dumbledore is plotting to take his job.
Harry steps up to teach some of his classmates Defense Against The Dark Arts techniques. The audience also gets to see some of the strong bonds between Harry and his godfather Sirius — only to have their hearts broken while watching Bellatrix kill him in front of Harry. Daniel Radcliffe’s performance in that scene gives chills and hurts hearts, cementing this movie as one of the better in the series.
3Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
The second to last movie begins with Hermione wiping out her parents' memories of her and volunteers using Polyjuice potion to look like Harry to move him to the Burrow. The Golden Trio goes out on their own to begin the Horcrux hunt. Their endeavors injure Ron and strain their friendship which angers Ron and makes him leave.
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Harry follows a Patronus to the Sword of Gryffindor, and Ron comes back, saves Harry, and destroys the necklace. This film follows the book’s events fairly closely. The stellar performances of the Golden Trio beginning to fracture — and the heart-wrenching scene when Hedwig is killed in front of Harry — make this a tough contender on the list.
2Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
During Harry’s third year, he finds out that he has a godfather who was sent to Azkaban and has recently escaped. The rumor is that he’s out to kill Harry and that he was the one who gave up his parents' location to Voldemort. As it turns out, Sirius escaped to kill Peter Pettigrew, one of the people Sirius was convicted of murdering. Peter is an Animagus who turns into a rat and is Ron’s pet rat, and he’s the real person who snitched on Harry’s parents.
This film showcases surprising misdirections that keep the plot interesting, and it introduces many of the darker elements that continue to flourish in later entries. A few scenes in this film also sparked the Hermione shippers. It gave Harry hope of having a real family and hope of living away from the Dursleys, but truly the best scene is getting to watch 13-year-old Harry use a Patronus charm against a swarm of Dementors to save his godfather.
1Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry discovers that magic is real, his parents could wield it, and that he’s a wizard at age 11. He goes to Hogwarts to start learning about magic. Once there he becomes best friends with Ron and Hermione, who help him learn about Nicolas Flamel. They also help him overcome obstacles in order to get to the Sorcerer’s Stone, thinking Professor Snape is trying to take it.
Director Chris Columbus captures the amazing introduction to the Wizarding World with a lens filled with childlike wonder. Who could ever forget the awe-inspiring reveal of Hogwarts as the new students made their way across the Black Lake? Or watching characters come to life on screen for the first time and admiring how perfectly cast they were? The amazing locations, detailed props, fantastic music, and great cinematography came together to make a wonderful first film that captured the hearts and imaginations of many all around the world.
