Author J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter franchise has thrilled millions of readers since their debut in 1997 in a series of well-received fantasy novels. Following their bestselling success, Warner Bros. adapted the novels across eight films, with an additional three spinoff prequels penned and co-produced by Rowling herself.

The latest film in the long-running franchise, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, opens April 15 in theaters nationwide, continuing on the adventures of wizard Newt Scamander and his friends, while expanding upon Rowling's Wizarding World and building connections between the prequels and main Harry Potter series.

Accordingly, here is a comprehensive ranking of all ten films in the fantasy film franchise, from 2001's adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to both prequel spinoffs. The ranking system averages the scores between review aggregate sites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, while providing the audience score as well. The audience score doesn't affect the average, but does provide a comparison to see how professional critics regarded the films apart from the general public.

Let's begin with the lowest-rated film in the entire franchise:

EDITOR'S NOTE: This feature was updated on April 5, 2022, to reflect Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

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11. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - Average Score: 44

Fantastic Beasts 2

The second cinematic installment in the Fantastic Beasts series is also its weakest received critically in the franchise to date. Following the magical community led by unlikely hero Newt Scamander in tracking down evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald after his escape from imprisonment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald features the return of future Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore as he teams up with Newt to stop Grindelwald from waging war on the non-magical world.

Critics observed that director David Yates' prequel follow-up was too full of needless subplots at the expense of the story and its characters, while praising the more extensive connections to the main series. "An unfocused, overwhelming and ultimately numbing sprawl that seems to drag on forever," declared Nicholas Barber for the BBC, with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times noting that: "The movie is too busy bouncing all over the place, stuffing subplot after subplot into the mix." The film has a critics' score of 36 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 52.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald holds an audience score of 54 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

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10. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - Average Score: 52.5

After several delays, including a high-profile recast for its primary antagonist, Grindelwald, with Mads Mikkelsen replacing Johnny Depp, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is finally complete. With the action moving into the 1930s, Grindelwald continues to gain power as tensions grow between humanity and the Wizarding World. This prompts Dumbledore to assemble a small team, led by the Scamander brothers, to stop Grindelwald from escalating the situation.

The early wave of reviews for The Secrets of Dumbledore suggests the third Fantastic Beasts film is still preoccupied with setting up its eventual endgame and dazzling audiences with visual effects rather than telling a substantive story. Polygon's Charles Bramesco criticized The Secrets of Dumbledore being directionless while Time Out praised the film's set pieces though observed that the overall movie was a bit shallow. The movie has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 58 percent and Metacritic score of 47.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore does not yet have an audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

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9. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Average Score: 70

Fantastic-Beasts

Received much more positively than its sequel, 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them marks both the start of the prequel series and is the earliest film to date in the Harry Potter timeline. A loose adaptation of Rowling's 2001 faux textbook of magical creatures within the Harry Potter universe of the same name, the movie introduces Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander, a magizoologist in the 1920s that accidentally frees a whole menagerie of magical fauna under his charge into New York City. As he scrambles to recover them with the help of some newfound American allies, Newt stumbles across a plot that threatens to disrupt the fragile peace between the magical and non-magical communities.

While not received as well as the main series from which it spun off, Yates' inaugural prequel was generally well-regarded by critics for breathing new life into the franchise and expanding upon the magical world. "To its considerable credit, Fantastic Beasts is not the Potter retread it could easily -- and very profitably -- have been," praised Christopher Orr from The Atlantic. A more reserved, but still positive, review from Anthony Lane of The New Yorker observed that: "In all, the movie is a cunning and peppy surprise, dulled only by the news that no less than four sequels await." The film has a critics' score of 74 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 66.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them currently holds an audience score of 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

8. Harry Potter and the Death Hallows -- Part 1 - Average Score: 71.5

The lowest ranking film in the main Harry Potter timeline is its seventh and penultimate entry, taking up the first half of Rowling's final novel in the series. Yates' 2010 film largely takes place outside its usual setting at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as its main characters hunt for scattered pieces of principal antagonist Voldemort's soul hidden away in various objects while on the run from his evil followers.

Most of the criticism leveled against the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows decried the film as being incomplete and unable to stand on its own merits without its second half, while praise singled out the performances of its cast and maturing tone. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is fun escapist fantasy, with a dark, thoughtful thread running through its center," wrote Annalee Newitz for io9. Joe Williams of the St. Louis Dispatch observed that the film was "slower and stranger than any of the previous films, simultaneously raising hopes for a haunting finale while dimming hopes for a magical one." The film has a critics' score of 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 65.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1 currently holds an audience score of 85 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

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7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Average Score: 72

The adaptation that started it all, 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released outside of the United States with its original literary title Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Director Chris Columbus introduced movie audiences to Rowling's bestselling world and, with it, stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. The inaugural film saw Harry enroll in the acclaimed magical academy Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and then discover he was the wizard prophesied to destroy Voldemort, after surviving an attack by the dark wizard as an infant.

Lauded as an enjoyable, if lightweight, adaptation of Rowling's first novel, Columbus translated the book serviceably into live-action. "Harry Potter's first venture onto the screen is a solid blockbuster," observed the New York Daily News' Jami Bernard, while a less effusive review by Anthony Lane from The New Yorker called the film the "plainest and least surprising of artifacts: the work of art that is exactly the sum of its parts, neither more nor less." The film has a critics' score of 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 64.

Harry and the Sorcerer's Stone currently holds an audience score of 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

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6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Average Score: 72.5

Harry Potter Tom Riddle

The first sequel and final installment helmed by original director Chris Columbus, 2002's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is paced like a whodunnit, as Harry and his friends return for their second year at Hogwarts only to find a mysterious creature stalking students in its halls.

While still pointing out its occasional flaws in delivery and workmanlike pacing, critics praised the sequel for its darker tone and heightened sense of spectacle, with the filmmakers now exploring the possibilities of the cinematic world they had previously introduced. "This new Harry Potter has its flaws, but it's better, as well as darker, than the first," wrote Joe Morgenstern for the Wall Street Journal. Brian Linder of IGN noted that the film "isn't perfect, but it's everything it should be: fun, exciting, humorous and stirring." The film has a critics' score of 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 63.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets currently holds an audience score of 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Average Score: 74

prophecy-orbs-harry-potter

The fifth installment of the series marked the debut of director David Yates to the franchise with 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. With Voldemort now fully resurrected, the magical community attempts to rally in defense while the government does its best to suppress news of the dark lord's return to avoid widespread panic. Frustrated, Harry forms his own secret ensemble of fellow students to train and prepare for Voldemort's inevitable attack.

Adapting the longest novel in the series, critics praised Yates for streamlining the book's story as well as the cast's performances and action-packed set pieces. "Yates dispenses with many of the novel's subplots and is able to push the story forward, ominously foreshadowing the dark times to come," observed Bruce Diones for The New Yorker. Time Out's Wally Hammond wrote that the film's "performances are more mature, the soundtrack (by Nicholas Hooper) less grandiose, and Yates executes some thrilling set-pieces." The film has a critics' score of 77 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 71.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix currently holds an audience score of 81 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

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4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Average Score: 81

Harry Potter Tom Riddle

Following the successful reception to The Order of the Phoenix, Yates returned to helm every subsequent installment in the Harry Potter franchise starting with its direct sequel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The sixth film in the series had Harry and Dumbledore investigate how Voldemort was able to survive his apparent death in his failed bid to kill Harry, while the latter was an infant, with the help of professors Snape and Slughorn.

The 2009 film was praised for its ensemble cast and unmistakably more mature tone and narrative elements in comparison to its predecessors. "With its deft handling of teen yearning and affection, Half-Blood Prince maneuvers mysteries of heart and hankering that resound in worlds magic and Muggle," observed the Denver Post's Lisa Kennedy, with the Chicago Reader's Cliff Doerksen writing that "director David Yates presides over some gorgeous CGI set pieces, but all the real magic comes from the scrum of ace British character actors." The film has a critics' score of 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 78.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince currently holds an audience score of 77 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

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3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Average Score: 84.5

Harry Potter

The fourth entry in the series, 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet Fire, was the first film in the entire franchise helmed by a British director, with veteran filmmaker Mike Newell taking the reins. The film saw Harry enter a magical tournament with two rival schools as Voldemort's followers secretly orchestrated another plot for their dark master's resurrection.

Just as with Rowling's novel the film adapts, the sequel saw a sudden, dark shift for the entire film series with its surprise finale, while Newell imbued the franchise with a more British sensibility in terms of style and tone. David Ansen from Newsweek wrote that "[screenwriter Steve] Kloves has streamlined J.K. Rowling's 700-plus-page opus into cinematic fighting form. And the special effects, which threatened to overwhelm the first two movies, are seamlessly integrated." The Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern observed simply that "it's downright scary how good this movie is." The film has a critics' score of 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 81.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire currently holds an audience score of 74 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Average Score: 86

The third film in the franchise was also the first not helmed by original director Chris Columbus, who was replaced by Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón after Columbus left the production citing exhaustion from directing the first two films back-to-back. 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban introduced Gary Oldman's Sirius Black, who escapes from the titular magical prison after being convicted of aiding in the murder of Harry's parents. Learning of Black's alleged role, Harry vows to find the former family friend for revenge, only to discover things are much more complicated than they initially seem.

While the first two films in the franchise had largely been regarded as standard children's film fare, critics lauded the third installment for its more mature sensibilities and genuine sense of wonder that they had found lacking in its predecessors. "Cuarón brought to the Potter franchise a quality curiously missing from the two previous films: magic," praised Christopher Orr of The Atlantic. Bruce Diones from The New Yorker wrote that: "Just like the books that the films are based on, this franchise gets better with each installment." The film has a critics' score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 82.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban currently holds an audience score of 86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

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1. Harry Potter and the Death Hallows -- Part 2 - Average Score: 91.5

Daniel Radcliffe Harry Potter

The eighth installment of the franchise and final entry in the main Harry Potter timeline, David Yates' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2 closed out the final novel in Rowling's series. The 2011 film had Harry return to Hogwarts with his allies for the epic final showdown with Voldemort and his legion of followers.

The film is the most highly rated film in the franchise, critically, by a considerable margin, with critics praising the entry for perfectly closing out the main series and its heightened scale and emotional final performances. The Atlantic's Christopher Orr argued the film actually improved upon Rowling's original source material, writing: "It's a pleasant irony that, just as the first installments of Rowling's oeuvre were better suited to page than screen, the final installments have reversed the relationship." Christopher Kelly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reflected that "for 10 years and eight films we've gotten to watch these young actors grow as people, as performers and as characters. It has been a true coming-of-age saga, in the fullest and most moving sense of the term." The film has a critics' score of 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 87.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2 currently holds an audience score of 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

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