Harry Potter in order

Harry learns he is a wizard and starts at Hogwarts. Published in the US as the Sorcerer's Stone; the story is the same.

Movie · 2001 · Chris Columbus

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Read each book, then watch its film: #2 · Release order: #5 · Story order on screen: #5

A faithful, warm adaptation that cast the three young leads who would grow up on screen over the next decade.

Students are being petrified and an old diary holds the answer. It also introduces an object that turns out to be central to book six.

The longest of the early films and the closest to its book.

An escaped prisoner is said to be hunting Harry. The first book without Voldemort at its center, and a favorite of many readers.

Alfonso Cuarón changed the look and mood of the series, and it is often called the best of the eight films.

The Triwizard Tournament, and the turn from school story to war story. Twice the length of the books before it.

Cuts heavily to fit the tournament into one film, but nails the graveyard scene.

Nobody believes Harry, and the Ministry takes over Hogwarts. The longest book, with an angry, isolated Harry at its heart.

David Yates's first film; he directed every Wizarding World film after it. The shortest film from the longest book.

Dumbledore shows Harry Voldemort's past. Much of the book is memory, and those chapters are the key to the ending.

Beautifully shot and funnier than you might expect. It skips much of the backstory the book spends most of its time on.

Harry, Ron and Hermione leave Hogwarts to hunt for Horcruxes. The conclusion of the series.

The quiet, lonely half of the final book, on the run and camping across Britain.

The Battle of Hogwarts and the end of the saga on screen.