Peacock Losing The Biggest Fantasy Franchise

For more than two decades, audiences have been obsessed with the boy who lived ever since filmmaker Chris Columbus (Home Alone) first took on the daunting task of turning the first book in J.K. Rowling’s series, The Sorcerer’s Stone, into a movie. This was no small undertaking even for someone with as many successful credits to his name as Columbus had at the beginning of the 2000s, but the director and his creative crew knocked it out of the park. That first installment of the Harry Potter movies would forever cement Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, respectively.

Against its production budget of $125 million, the first feature immediately solidified what Warner Bros. Studio had been hoping – the world was ready for the exciting and magical universe of Harry Potter to be made into movies. From there, the sky was the limit, as from The Sorcerer’s Stone’s release in 2001, seven more chapters would make their way onto the big screen until the grandiose finale arrived a decade later in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

Over the ten years and eight movies, many of us essentially grew up alongside the franchise’s leading stars. Along with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, many other characters were played by the same stars film after film. Faces like Tom Felton and Matthew Lewis became synonymous with Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom, respectively, while longtime Hollywood staples like Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Gary Oldman, and Ralph Fiennes introduced themselves to a new generation through the Harry Potter movies.

Giving multiple directors a chance to forever leave their mark on some of cinema’s biggest money-makers, the films saw not only Chris Columbus stand at the helm but also Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men), Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and David Yates (Pain Hustlers). Knowing more about the separate and unique style of each filmmaker makes the Harry Potter movies all that more enjoyable as each director imposed their own style and flair on the Wizarding World. 

The Harry Potter movies would also allow other stories from the universe to be told as shortly after the credits rolled on The Deathly Hallows – Part Two, the studio began working on what would become the Fantastic Beasts trilogy. Over a set of three films, audiences learned more about what happened years before Harry Potter – or even his parents – studied at Hogwarts, with the productions introducing new characters and going back to the younger years of Albus Dumbledore’s life.

Jump over to Peacock before the end of the weekend to watch all the Harry Potter movies in one place before they leave the streamer on September 1.