What to watch before the HBO Harry Potter series

No. 01 · 2001 · Film · 2h 32m

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school's kindly headmaster, Harry uncovers the truth about his parents' deaths—and about the villain who's to blame.

Why it matters: Harry arrives at Hogwarts: the place to start.

Starring

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson

Director

Chris Columbus

Box office

$1.03 billion on a $125 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.7 · Rotten Tomatoes 80%

No. 02 · 2002 · Film · 2h 41m

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Cars fly, trees fight back, and a mysterious house-elf comes to warn Harry Potter at the start of his second year at Hogwarts. Adventure and danger await when bloody writing on a wall announces: The Chamber Of Secrets Has Been Opened. To save Hogwarts will require all of Harry, Ron and Hermione's magical abilities and courage.

Why it matters: Year two, and an early clue to Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Starring

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson

Director

Chris Columbus

Box office

$877 million on a $100 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.5 · Rotten Tomatoes 82%

No. 03 · 2004 · Film · 2h 21m

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter's life is in danger once more as dangerous wizard Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban Prison and is heading to Hogwarts.

Why it matters: Year three introduces Sirius Black and Lupin.

Starring

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson

Director

Alfonso Cuarón

Box office

$790 million on a $130 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.9 · Rotten Tomatoes 90%

No. 04 · 2005 · Film · 2h 37m

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

When his name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter becomes a competitor in a grueling battle for glory among three wizarding schools. Signs of Voldemort's return emerge as Harry's friends help him prepare for the Triwizard Tournament.

Why it matters: The Triwizard Tournament ends with Voldemort's return.

Starring

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson

Director

Mike Newell

Box office

$896 million on a $150 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.7 · Rotten Tomatoes 88%

No. 05 · 2007 · Film · 2h 18m

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

When a new professor's methods leave Hogwarts unprepared to fight the rising tide of evil, Harry teaches students how to defend against the dark arts.

Why it matters: Dumbledore's Army and the fight at the Ministry.

Starring

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson

Director

David Yates

Box office

$938 million on a $150 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.5 · Rotten Tomatoes 78%

No. 06 · 2009 · Film · 2h 33m

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Dumbledore tries to prepare Harry for the final battle with Voldemort while Death Eaters wreak havoc in both Muggle and Wizard worlds.

Why it matters: Snape's secret and the Horcrux hunt begins.

Starring

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson

Director

David Yates

Box office

$934 million on a $250 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.6 · Rotten Tomatoes 83%

No. 07 · 2010 · Film · 2h 26m

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away from their last year at Hogwarts to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, putting an end to Voldemort's bid for immortality. But with Harry's beloved Dumbledore dead and Voldemort's unscrupulous Death Eaters on the loose, the world is more dangerous than ever.

Why it matters: Harry, Ron and Hermione on the run.

Starring

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint

Director

David Yates

Box office

$954 million on a $250 million budget

Scores

IMDb 7.7 · Rotten Tomatoes 77%

No. 08 · 2011 · Film · 2h 10m

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Harry, Ron and Hermione continue their quest to vanquish the evil Voldemort once and for all. Just as things begin to look hopeless for the young wizards, Harry discovers a trio of magical objects that endow him with powers to rival Voldemort's formidable skills.

Why it matters: The Battle of Hogwarts ends the saga.

Starring

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint

Director

David Yates

Box office

$1.34 billion on a $125 million budget

Scores

IMDb 8.1 · Rotten Tomatoes 96%

No. 01 · 2001 · Film

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone recap

Harry Potter lives in a cupboard under the stairs with his cruel aunt and uncle, the Dursleys. On his eleventh birthday the giant Hagrid tells him he is a wizard, famous for surviving the attack by Lord Voldemort that killed his parents and left him a lightning-bolt scar. At Hogwarts he is sorted into Gryffindor and befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, makes an enemy of Draco Malfoy, and turns out to be a natural Seeker at Quidditch. The friends learn that a three-headed dog guards something under the school: the Philosopher's Stone, which grants eternal life. They suspect the hostile potions master Severus Snape of trying to steal it, and with Dumbledore away they go through the trapdoor themselves, past a giant chess game in which Ron sacrifices himself.

How Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ends

Harry reaches the final chamber and finds not Snape but Professor Quirrell, with Voldemort's face on the back of his head. The Stone appears in Harry's pocket through the Mirror of Erised, and Quirrell crumbles to dust at Harry's touch, protected by his mother's sacrifice. Dumbledore explains, the Stone is destroyed, and Gryffindor wins the House Cup. Harry goes home for the summer with Voldemort still out there.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 02 · 2002 · Film

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets recap

The house-elf Dobby tries to stop Harry going back to Hogwarts, and Ron and his brothers rescue Harry in a flying car. At school, students and a ghost are found petrified, and a message on the wall announces that the Chamber of Secrets, built by Salazar Slytherin, has been opened and its monster is hunting Muggle-born students. Harry discovers he can speak Parseltongue, the snake language, and the school suspects him. Hermione is petrified. Harry finds an old diary belonging to Tom Riddle that shows him a memory of Hagrid being blamed for the Chamber fifty years ago. Then Ron's sister Ginny is taken into the Chamber, and Harry and Ron go after her, dragging along the fraudulent teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, whose memory charm backfires on himself.

How Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ends

In the Chamber, Tom Riddle reveals he is the young Voldemort, preserved in the diary and draining Ginny's life. Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes brings Harry the Sorting Hat, and he pulls the sword of Gryffindor from it, kills the basilisk, and stabs the diary with a fang, destroying Riddle. Ginny lives. Harry frees Dobby from Lucius Malfoy, who planted the diary. The diary later turns out to be one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. After the credits, a sign in Flourish and Blotts advertises Lockhart's new book, "Who Am I?", a joke about his lost memory. It sets up nothing further.

No. 03 · 2004 · Film

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban recap

Sirius Black, a mass murderer said to have betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, escapes from the wizard prison Azkaban and appears to be hunting Harry. Soul-sucking Dementors guard Hogwarts, and the new Defence teacher Remus Lupin teaches Harry to fight them with the Patronus charm. Harry learns Black was his father's best friend and his godfather. Hagrid's hippogriff Buckbeak is sentenced to death after Draco provokes it. Ron's rat Scabbers vanishes, and a huge black dog drags Ron into the Shrieking Shack.

How Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ends

In the Shack, Black and Lupin reveal that Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, the real traitor, who framed Sirius. Lupin turns into a werewolf under the full moon and Pettigrew escapes. Hermione uses her Time-Turner to take Harry back three hours, and they save Buckbeak and then Sirius, who flies off on the hippogriff. Harry casts a full Patronus to drive off the Dementors. Lupin resigns, and Sirius sends Harry a Firebolt broom.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 04 · 2005 · Film

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire recap

At the Quidditch World Cup, Death Eaters riot and Voldemort's Dark Mark appears in the sky. Hogwarts hosts the Triwizard Tournament with two other schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and the Goblet of Fire chooses Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum, then spits out a fourth name: Harry, who is underage and never entered. Ron, jealous, stops speaking to him for a while. The gruff new Defence teacher Mad-Eye Moody steers Harry through the tasks: getting past a dragon, rescuing Ron from the lake, and the Yule Ball in between. In the final task, a hedge maze, Harry and Cedric agree to take the Triwizard Cup together.

How Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ends

The Cup is a Portkey that carries them to a graveyard. Pettigrew kills Cedric and uses Harry's blood to give Voldemort a body again. Harry duels Voldemort, the wands connect, the ghosts of his parents shield him, and he escapes with Cedric's body. Moody turns out to be Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise, who rigged the tournament. Dumbledore tells the school Voldemort is back.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 05 · 2007 · Film

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix recap

The Ministry of Magic refuses to believe Voldemort has returned and smears Harry and Dumbledore. Harry is nearly expelled for using magic against Dementors. Sirius's old house is headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's secret society. The Ministry installs Dolores Umbridge at Hogwarts, who bans practical magic and punishes Harry cruelly, so Harry teaches his friends in secret as Dumbledore's Army. Harry shares visions with Voldemort, saves Ron's father Arthur from a snake attack, and takes lessons from Snape to close his mind. Umbridge drives out Dumbledore and takes over the school. Then Harry has a vision of Sirius being tortured at the Ministry.

How Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ends

The vision is a trap. In the Department of Mysteries, Harry and his friends fight Death Eaters over a prophecy about him, the Order arrives, and Bellatrix Lestrange kills Sirius. Dumbledore duels Voldemort in the Ministry atrium, and the Minister sees Voldemort with his own eyes. Dumbledore tells Harry the prophecy: one of them must kill the other.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 06 · 2009 · Film

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince recap

Voldemort's followers are openly attacking. Dumbledore brings back the old teacher Horace Slughorn, who once told the young Tom Riddle about Horcruxes, objects holding pieces of a soul. Harry excels at potions thanks to an old textbook annotated by "the Half-Blood Prince". Draco has a secret mission from Voldemort, and Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to help him. Ron and Hermione circle each other and Harry falls for Ginny. Harry gets Slughorn's real memory: Riddle made several Horcruxes, and Dumbledore has already destroyed one, a ring. Dumbledore takes Harry to a sea cave to retrieve another, a locket, and drinks a poison to reach it.

How Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ends

Back at Hogwarts, Draco lets Death Eaters into the school and disarms Dumbledore but cannot kill him; Snape does it, and reveals he is the Half-Blood Prince. The locket is a fake left by someone signing "R.A.B." Harry decides to skip his last year to hunt the remaining Horcruxes with Ron and Hermione.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 07 · 2010 · Film

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 recap

Voldemort takes over the Ministry. The Order moves Harry out of his aunt's house using six decoy Harrys, and Mad-Eye is killed. At Bill and Fleur's wedding the Ministry falls, and Harry, Ron and Hermione flee and go on the run. They learn that the real locket is in Umbridge's possession, steal it from the Ministry, and cannot destroy it. Wearing it poisons their moods, and Ron walks out. Harry and Hermione visit Godric's Hollow and are ambushed by Nagini. Ron returns, saving Harry and destroying the locket with the sword of Gryffindor. Xenophilius Lovegood tells them about the Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak.

How Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 ends

Snatchers capture the trio and take them to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix tortures Hermione. Dobby rescues them, and is killed by Bellatrix's knife; Harry buries him. Voldemort breaks into Dumbledore's tomb and takes the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand there is, setting up Part 2.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 08 · 2011 · Film

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 recap

With help from the goblin Griphook, the trio break into Gringotts and steal Helga Hufflepuff's cup from Bellatrix's vault, escaping on a dragon. They return to Hogwarts, where Snape is now headmaster, to find Ravenclaw's diadem, and the school rises against Voldemort. In the battle, Ron and Hermione destroy the cup with a basilisk fang and kiss, the diadem burns, and Fred, Lupin and Tonks are killed. Voldemort kills Snape, believing that will make him master of the Elder Wand. Snape's dying memories show he loved Harry's mother Lily, protected Harry all along, and killed Dumbledore on his orders. They also reveal that Harry himself carries a piece of Voldemort's soul.

How Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ends

Harry walks into the forest and lets Voldemort kill him, which destroys the soul piece inside him; he returns from a limbo conversation with Dumbledore. Neville kills Nagini, the last Horcrux, and Harry defeats Voldemort, whose curse rebounds because the Elder Wand belongs to Harry. Nineteen years later, Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione, see their children off to Hogwarts. HBO's series will retell the story.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.