All eight of the main Harry Potter films are streaming on Crave.
This is a pretty notable get for the Bell-owned platform, as the massively popular franchise wasn’t previously available on any streaming service in its entirety. Instead, the final four films were streaming, for a time, on Netflix, with the first four unavailable due to “territorial licensing.”
Crave has gotten all eight movies to coincide with the 20th anniversary of The Philosopher’s Stone, which opened in North American theatres on November 16th, 2001.
For reference, these are the eight movies now on Crave:
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part I
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part II
All of these movies can be found in ‘The Harry Potter Collection’ on Crave.
It’s worth noting that the two Fantastic Beasts movies, which are Harry Potter prequels, aren’t currently on any streaming service outside of PVOD platforms like iTunes and Google Play. The third Fantastic Beasts film, The Secrets of Dumbledore, will hit North American theatres on April 15th, 2022.
That said, this is the first of three major Harry Potter content releases for Crave. On November 28th at 8pm ET, the streaming service will also debut Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses. Hosted by Oscar winner Helen Mirren (The Queen), the four-part competition series will pit fans against one another in Potter trivia battles. Special guests, including Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy himself) and late-night comedian Jay Leno, will also appear.
Finally, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will premiere on January 1st, 2022. The reunion special sees Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione) join Christopher Columbus (director of The Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets) and a variety of other guests from the films to reflect on 20 years of Harry Potter on the big screen.
However, series creator J.K. Rowling has been noticeably absent from all of these 20th-anniversary celebrations, including the Return to Hogwarts special. It appears that Warner Bros. is trying to distance itself publicly from the writer, who’s come under fire in recent years for repeated transphobic comments.
Many of the Harry Potter films’ stars, including Radcliffe, Watson, Grint and Fantastic Beasts‘ Eddie Redmayne, have issued separate statements to voice their disagreement with Rowling. During this time, there’s also been a marked increase in hate crimes against trans people in both the U.K. and U.S., which LGBTQ+ activists have warned comes, in part, from harmful rhetoric from public figures like Rowling.
Image credit: Warner Bros.
