There has never been a young adult movie series as successful throughout the years as the Harry Potter movies. With over $9 billion at the box office, Harry Potter rivals the big guns of Star Wars and the MCU. The story of the Boy Wizard, who has to deal with stopping the world’s greatest evil with his childhood friends by his side, was a massive success in novels and movies.
However, the Harry Potter series moved on and is now focusing on battles that took place before the Boy Wizard was born. This change leaves people looking for more movies similar to the original Harry Potter series looking for something else to watch to fill in that hole. Here is a look at 10 movies to watch if you like Harry Potter.
Updated April 19, 2020, by Shawn S. Lealos: The world of Harry Potter created such a significant success for young adult movies that it opened up the floodgates for several young adult adaptations that followed in its magical footsteps. While many played with the same ideas of magical youngsters fighting the world, other themes arose, including the loss of loved ones and a sense of loneliness and isolation in a cruel world. Here is a look at five more movies that should entertain anyone who loved the wizarding world of Harry Potter.
FANTASTIC BEASTS FILMS (2016-)
The closest movie franchise to Harry Potter comes from the same world. The Fantastic Beasts series of films are prequels to the world fans grew to love with Harry Potter. There are some familiar names, as the history of J.K. Rowling’s world plays out here, and there is at least one very familiar face in a young Dumbledore.
The selling point of the series is the lead-in to the battle only hinted at in Rowling’s original series — Dumbledore vs. Grindelwald, the greatest wizard battle in history.
A MONSTER CALLS (2016)
A Monster Calls has a very strong connection to the world of Harry Potter. In the Potter books and movies, Harry is an orphaned boy who has a family but never feels like he fits in until he meets his magical friends at school.
A Monster Calls, based on the novel by Patrick Ness, has a young boy whose mother has cancer and father lives a very separate life — one in which his son is not welcome. It isn’t until young Conor meets a magical monstrous tree creature that he finally finds a cure for his pain.
MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN (2016)
The young adult fantasy series, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, launched over a decade after Harry Potter captured the world’s attention.
This series followed a young boy named Jacob who sought out the truth about an abandoned orphanage and ends up traveling back in time to meet the children who used to live there, all possessing magical powers, and sets off on a great adventure. The movie hit in 2011 with Asa Butterfield as young Jake.
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA (2007)
The Katherine Paterson book Bridge to Terabithia was published in 1977. The book told the story of two children, Jess and Leslie, who use their imaginations to create a magical kingdom in the forests known as Terabithia, based on their real-life struggles.
In 2007, Disney turned the novel into a movie starring Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb. There is a connection, as Paterson’s son David wrote the original screenplay for the film, ensuring the adaptation was faithful to the original.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS (2007)
When it was released, The Golden Compass did not have the best reputation amongst fans of the source novels. The books were the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, which just received a more faithful adaptation thanks to HBO.
However, the original movie was still a fantastical young adult film about a young orphan girl named Lyra who learns of a parallel universe when villains known as Gobblers kidnaps her only friend. With a new team of allies, Lyra determines that she will battle the ruling Magisterium to save her people.
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (2005)
The Chronicles of Narnia is a seven-book fantasy series by C.S. Lewis, the same total of books that the Harry Potter series reached by its conclusion. The two also share a lot in the fact that they are about children in a world of magic that threatens to consume them. In the case of The Chronicles of Narnia, the kids transferred to the magical world of Narnia.
In 2005, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe hit theaters as the first movie in a three-film series based on the novels. There were also two sequels in Prince Caspian (2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Trader (2010).
Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)
Based on its box office, most people have already seen The Lord of the Rings movies, but if not, they are well worth the watch for people who like Harry Potter. Based on the fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, the original Lord of the Rings trilogy was one of the most successful fantasy franchises in history, with several Oscar wins for the movies and over 150 million copies sold of the books.
The first movie in the series was The Fellowship of the Ring, which follows a group of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, magic users and warriors set out to save their world. It was followed by The Two Towers and Return of the King as well as a separate Hobbit trilogy.
A Wrinkle In Time (2018)
Released in 2018, A Wrinkle in Time was based on the young adult novel by Madeleine L’Engle. The story follows three children who take a journey through space and time, through multiple universes, for the girl, Meg, to save her father and eventually save the entire world.
The movie, directed by Ava DuVernay, starred Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling as the three astral beings who help the children on their journey through the universe. The movie was a box office failure but was a visually dynamic film with a solid message for children.
Matilda (1996)
Fans of Harry Potter can look back to 1996 to see a similar movie about a child living a rough life who discovers that she is, in fact, a witch. Matilda starred nine-year-old Mara Wilson in only her second significant film role (after Miracle on 34th Street) as the title character.
Danny DeVito directs the movie and also stars as her father, while Rhea Perlman stars as her mother. Mistreated by both her parents and the headmistress at the school she attends, her powers manifest themselves, and she uses them to protect herself and eventually find her freedom.
The Hunger Games (2012)
Released a decade after Harry Potter took the literary world by storm, The Hunger Games was a trilogy by author Suzanne Collins. The books took place in a dystopian future and followed a girl named Katniss Everdeen, who agreed to fight for her community in place of her younger sister in the annual Hunger Games, a battle to the death where only one survives.
The movie for the first novel arrived in 2012 with Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role. It was followed by three sequels, as it followed the Harry Potter design of splitting the final book into two movies. Overall, the films made a total of over $2.97 billion worldwide.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Harry Potter owes much of its success to the idea of fairy tales and myths, and if there is one filmmaker who has mastered that theme, it is Guillermo Del Toro. The auteur has several movies that would be perfect for Harry Potter fans, including the fantastic ghost story, The Devil’s Backbone.
However, the best movie of his career was Pan’s Labyrinth, the story of a little girl living with her mother during the Spanish Civil War. While the real-life horrors of the war put her in danger, she finds an underground world of monsters and greater dangers. She soon learns that she might be the reincarnation of an ancient princess.
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Released in 2008, The Spiderwick Chronicles is a lesser-known young adult movie about magic and discovery. The film is based on the novels by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black with eight books in the series, stretching from 2003-2009. The story follows a young boy named Jared.
The film was a possible start to a new young adult fantasy series but ended with just one movie. The film starred Freddie Highmore as the young boy who finds a journal that reveals the existence of magical creatures and then accidentally releases them onto the world.
The Neverending Story (1984)
Released in 1984 by director Wolfgang Petersen, The Neverending Story was an adaptation of the novel by Michael Ende. The film split time between the real world with a young boy named Bastian and a fantastical world with a child warrior named Atreyu.
When Bastian discovers a book called The Neverending Story, he starts to read it and then realizes that everything he is reading might really be happening. This story gives him the strength and determination to rise above the bullying and finally stand up for himself in the real world.
The Maze Runner (2014)
The Maze Runner is another young adult movie series that hoped to be the next Harry Potter. One thing to say about the movies is that they at least finished their story, while many other efforts ended with just one or two films before cancelation. Based on the books by James Dashner, teenagers wake up in a strange place with no knowledge of their previous lives or anything, except that they need to survive.
There is a maze that could lead them out, but that is also filled with creatures. The movies told the story from the first three books, which took the kids from the maze to a dystopian world where they learn they might be the key to saving humankind.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)
Percy Jackson was massively popular in the young adult novel world. Rick Riordan not only created an entire series about the demigod, but he also developed more novel series taking place in the world of the myths, branching out from Greek Gods to other pantheons.
However, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief drastically changed plot strands from the novels and pushed fans of the book away. However, for those who have not read the books, the movie is a fun fantasy film very much in the vein of Harry Potter.
