All of the 'Harry Potter' Movies, Ranked

Harry Potter is one of the most popular movie franchises of the past 20 years. We all have our favorite movie in the series, which one’s yours? In honor of Daniel Radcliffe’s birthday, we’ve revisited the wizarding world and ranked all of the Harry Potter movies, from worst to best.

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highest grossing movies all time the harry potter deathly hallows part 2

For people of a certain age (read: people born in the ‘90s), the Harry Potter series is our pop culture holy grail. It turned many children into avid readers and charmed not only their hearts and minds, but the hearts and minds of their parents and teachers (well, at least most teachers) as well, thanks to their inventive stories and memorable characters.

Harry Potter was a huge phenomenon even before the first film came out in 2001, and after that it became omnipresent. It not only thrilled on page but on screen as well, churning out some of the most well-received, both critically and financially, blockbusters of the 2000’s. It made stars of the three leads: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, who continue to be successful today.

The popularity of the series has lead to video games, an interactive immersive website, and even several theme park attractions. It’s notable for touching on social issues present in our world as well as the wizarding world, including racism, classism, and fascism, creating a whole generation of readers more understanding of social issues.

The most powerful and moving theme within the Harry Potter series, however, is the power of love, from the love of Harry’s parents to the love Harry has for his friends. Even though the saga of Harry Potter and his friends ended in 2011 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, there’s since been a continuing series: a five-movie franchise focusing on the wizarding world in the 1920s. In honor of Daniel Radcliffe’s 29th birthday, we’ve ranked all eight OG Harry Potter movies.

8. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

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Year: 2009

Director: David Yates

AKA the one where (spoiler alert for a nine-year-old movie) Dumbledore dies. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince isn’t a bad movie per se; it has a dark charm to it, and it’s certainly the most visually arresting of the Harry Potter movies, even if everything just kinda looks muddy and green. Unfortunately, the film is 50 percent exposition/set-up for the conclusion, 50 percent the continuing journey of Harry and his friends. The book is paced strangely in this regard too, so the movie can’t entirely be blamed. 

This movie also has the most focus on romance, which has never been this series’ strong suit. Ron dates Lavender Brown, which makes Hermione jealous; Hermione dates Cormac McLaggen, which makes Ron jealous; Harry kisses Ron’s sister Ginny, which makes Ron angry, and Harry is just kind of in the middle of it all. Even one of the saddest scenes (Dumbledore’s death) of the series, and some of the funniest (any scene involving the main three’s love lives, Harry on Felix Felicis), can’t redeem the rest of the rote plotlines in this installment.

7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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Year: 2007

Director: David Yates

The most “table setting” of the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix essentially bridges the gap between Goblet of Fire (which sees Voldemort resurrected) and Half Blood Prince (which sees the wizarding world finally aware that he’s back), and does so successfully but in a mostly unexciting way. It has the unfortunate distinction of being the adaptation with the longest source material and the shortest runtime. 

The introduction of the titular Order of the Phoenix and the formation of Dumbledore’s Army are exciting ideas presented in the film, and Dolores Umbridge is one of the more iconic villains of the last twenty years. Still, the movie is bogged down by countless visions and dreams functioning as exposition. The death of Sirius Black even feels a bit anticlimactic, and let’s be honest, you probably forgot about Hagrid’s half brother, Grawp. The ending battle between Harry and Dumbledore and Voldemort is at least well worth the more forgettable parts of this movie.

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two

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Year: 2011

Director: David Yates

Easily the most action-packed of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two also has to function as a proper ending, and comes off rather well for a movie that’s pretty much an extended battle for a good hour of its runtime. While its preamble is a bit slow and expected as Harry and company destroy more Horcruxes, The Battle of Hogwarts is legitimately thrilling and has some of the best pure action set pieces in the series. 

While there isn’t much time to marinate in them, the deaths of beloved characters, both good and bad, are also memorable. This movie also has maybe the most triumphant scene of the series, with Molly Weasley stepping into a battle between Bellatrix Lestrange and her daughter yelling, “Not my daughter, you bitch!” leading to her dueling and killing Lestrange on the spot. Deathly Hallows: Part Two also has the powerful emotional end to Severus Snape, arguably the most complex character in the series, as his memories reveal his complicated web of allegiances and resentments to Harry as he dies by Voldemort’s hand.

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One

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Year: 2010

Director: David Yates

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One is a notable entry in the series for having none of the plot take place at Hogwarts, and instead opting for a sort of “road movie” plot, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione journey far and wide looking for pieces of Voldemort’s soul stored in objects known as “Horcruxes”. The entire movie is tense and exciting; Voldemort’s at full power for the first time in the series and has officially begun persecuting witches and wizards at large, including ruining Ron’s brother Bill Weasley’s wedding in memorable fashion. This is the movie where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are at their weakest and least protected, and it’s thrilling to see them embark on a dangerous journey as they learn more about Voldemort’s weaknesses and escape Death Eaters at every turn. Deathly Hallows: Part One also reveals the titular objects as three of the most powerful objects in the wizarding world, in a gorgeous animated sequence—the only animated sequence in the entire series.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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Year: 2005

Director: Mike Newell

The perfect marriage between the magical tone of the earlier Harry Potter movies and the darker, more adult tone of the later films, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire marks an exciting turning point in the series. The first sequence even foreshadows the movie itself, juxtaposing the light magical fun of the Quidditch World Cup with the terrifying Death Eater rally at the World Cup immediately after. 

Goblet of Fire introduces the Triwizard Tournament, a tournament between Hogwarts and two other foreign schools, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, giving this entry a more world building feel. The three central tasks that the three participants (and Harry) go through during the Triwizard Tournament show a variety of spells, creatures, and magical objects, making this one of the more visually dazzling films. Of course, it’s all leading to the shocking conclusion, one of the most pivotal moments that sets the stage for the endgame of the series, as Harry and Cedric Diggory (played by a pre-Twilight, pre-Good Time Robert Pattinson) are teleported to a graveyard and witness Voldemort’s resurrection. The murder of Cedric Diggory by Voldemort is one of the scariest moments of the series, and Harry’s subsequent return to Hogwarts with Cedric’s body announcing that Voldemort is back is one of the most chilling.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

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Year: 2001

Director: Chris Columbus

The one that started it all, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone holds up very well for a movie that had the arduous job of visualizing J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world from scratch. Even though this movie is very long (it definitely did not feel 2.5 hours long when I was younger) and because of that the pacing is off (it takes 45 minutes to even get to Hogwarts, which seems misguided), it’s a solid, magical movie that provides memorable introductions to some the most beloved pop culture characters of the past two decades. 

You could already tell here that the triumvirate of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson were going to make this series memorable: from their very first scene together, their chemistry just feels right. The movie also boasts fun cameos from great actors including John Hurt as Olivander and John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick. This movie sets up a great foundation for the magical journey to come over the next seven installments.

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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Year: 2002

Director: Chris Columbus

If Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was an auspicious start to this epic wizarding saga, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the movie gaining confidence in all the right ways. Even though this movie is ten minutes longer than Sorcerer’s Stone, it uses this time wisely, giving characters more room to breathe and to properly build the world introduced in the previous film. Chamber of Secrets introduces Dobby the House Elf, an instantly memorable character, the concept of wizard duels, and also the pureblood ideology that Lucius Malfoy and other older wizarding families believe in. Kenneth Branagh also has a great scene-stealing role as new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, an obnoxious, self-obsessed celebrity wizard. Chamber of Secrets is also more macabre as its predecessor, concerning a mysterious plot to “cleanse” Hogwarts of “impure” wizards through a giant snake known as a basilisk, leading to a shocking reveal involving Voldemort and an exciting battle between a 12-year-old(!) Harry Potter and the aforementioned giant snake.

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

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Year: 2004

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

The high watermark of the series as a whole, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban showed that the series could do something different from the first two installments yet still distinctly be a Harry Potter movie. Prisoner of Azkaban is the best directed movie in the series, as helmed by acclaimed director Alfonso Cuarón (whoever saw Y Tu Mamá También, Cuarón’s previous movie, an adult comedy drama full of sex and nudity, and decided that this is the person who should direct the next Harry Potter movie is out of their mind and also brilliant). 

It’s the most beautiful of the Harry Potter films, looking like a dark dream at times, a stark difference from the more well lit previous installments. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are also noticeably more teenager-y here, wearing street clothes instead of their robes and getting into fights with Draco Malfoy. Cuarón takes the book with the most self-contained storyline and creates a small gothic fairy tale boasting time travel, Dementors, and acclaimed character actors Gary Oldman and David Thewlis as franchise favorites Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, respectively. It’s the fan favorite for a reason, and it’s easily the most rewatchable of the series.

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