All eight Harry Potter movies take about 19 hours and 39 minutes. Here is the order, every runtime, and a weekend or three-session plan.
Warner Bros. Pictures
No spoilers for how any film ends.
Watch the eight Harry Potter films in release order, which is also the order of the story. Using the rounded theatrical runtimes, credits included, they add up to 19 hours and 39 minutes before breaks, so a weekend suits them better than a single day. Home editions can run a few minutes differently.
The three Fantastic Beasts films are prequels, set decades earlier, and they sit outside this run.
2001, 152 minutes
In the UK and many other countries it is called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and it is the same film. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) finds a school that gives him the belonging his childhood never did. Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) become the friends beside him as that world gets more dangerous.
2002, 161 minutes
The longest of the eight. Hogwarts still has its wonder, but the school feels less safe once suspicion starts deciding who belongs there. What Harry finds in this one comes back at the end of the story, so it is a poor one to skip on a rewatch.
2004, 142 minutes
A prisoner escapes from Azkaban, Dementors arrive to guard the school, and the adults around Harry get harder to read. The change in mood makes the end of this film a natural first stop if you split the run into three sessions.
2005, 157 minutes
A tournament brings the wider wizarding world into Hogwarts, and Harry gets far more public attention than he wants, along with the awkward business of growing up. Starting a second session here lets the jump in scale land after three more contained school years.
2007, 138 minutes
Authority becomes the danger, with the Ministry deciding what students may learn and say. It is one of the shorter films, but give it your full attention, because the politics carry as much of it as the magic.
2009, 153 minutes
Romance and classroom comedy share the film with what Harry learns about Voldemort’s past. It can feel crowded, but the last two films depend on that history.
Ending a middle session here keeps the final two films together, which is where they belong.
2010, 146 minutes
Harry spends most of this one away from school and the routine that held the earlier years together. Plan to watch Part 2 soon after, because Part 1 stops in the middle of the story.
2011, 130 minutes
The shortest of the eight. Characters and objects from every earlier film come back here, so watch it while they are fresh, and before you are too tired to enjoy it.
Over two days, watch films one to four on day one, about 10 hours and 12 minutes, and films five to eight on day two, about 9 hours and 27 minutes. Add breaks and meals to both.
Over three sessions, films one to three take about 7 hours and 35 minutes, four to six about 7 hours and 28 minutes, and the final pair about 4 hours and 36 minutes. The three-session plan gives each change in tone more room and keeps the last two films together.
In one go, with seven 15-minute breaks, the run takes about 21 hours and 24 minutes before meals.
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