We’re sure the extra box office didn’t hurt either… It’s also interesting to note that there are more Harry Potter movies than there are books, with final novel The Deathly Hallows split into two parts (a trick repeated by both the Twilight and The Hunger Games series) because there was so much story to fit in. The third Fantastic Beasts movie, The Secrets of Dumbledore, will apparate into theaters in April 2020.
That means there’s no need to introduce any kind of Star Wars-style 'Machete Order' (see how to watch the Star Wars movies in order) – yet – though if we get some massive revelation in Fantastic Beasts 3, 4 and 5, that may change.
There are no complicated interweaving timelines to deal with if you watch the Potter movies in release date order – it’s two distinct series, with an (as-yet) incomplete set of prequels following on from the parent franchise. The deeper into the movies you get, the darker they become. The story picks up in 2017, during the epilogue from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, and features the now grown-up Harry, Hermione, Ron and Draco Malfoy, and their kids. That places the Harry Potter films some 70 years after their Fantastic Beasts counterparts.Īnd Harry Potter’s story does continue beyond the final reckoning with Lord Voldemort – though not on screen – thanks to the hit stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
While the movies were made in the ’00s – and feature the occasional anachronism such as 21st century mobile phones or music – it’s probable they follow the same carefully crafted timeline as Rowling’s books.
That means 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’s 11 years old.