The first Harry Potter movie was released in 2001. Tastes have changed but the popularity of the franchise has not. Harry Potter was lucky because it came with a built-in worldwide fanbase. But how might the picture have fared if it was only a movie? What would have happened to the boy who lived if he was introduced to the world on-screen? And, even before that, on a movie poster?
With Eight Harry Potter movies and two more already in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, there are quite a few movie posters for fans to enjoy or hang on their walls. As stand-alone artwork, some are more successful than others.
Order of the Phoenix
The first of the David Yates Harry Potter movies didn’t exactly inspire with its poster choice. While it was fun to see characters other than the golden trio represented on the poster, it looked a little more Mean Girls than Harry Potter. Anyone who read the books knows that everyone, and Harry, in particular, is quite moody throughout the fifth year. Just because it’s true doesn’t make it particularly enticing as an advertisement for the film. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix is a story full of new characters and new dangers and this poster just decided it was going to be dark.
The Crimes of Grindelwald
While fans can certainly appreciate trying to introduce new characters and offering some very big stars face time on the film poster, there’s just a little too much happening in this picture for there to be any clear focus or message. It’s as if designers hoped to throw in everything but the kitchen sink when they were designing the advertisement for this most recent Harry Potter film. Besides the wands, there is also very little referencing the magic, or the beasts, that the movie really focuses on.
Chamber of Secrets
Like The Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets decided to use a little too much black in its advertising. While the trio looks notably heroic, Dobby seems like an afterthought as he pokes his oddly photoshopped head out of the bottom corner. It certainly offers a little bit more detail when compared to the poster for the fifth movie. Fans can certainly appreciate the appearance of Ron’s broken wand and the Sword of Gryffindor, but it’s not enough in a movie franchise that has a lot of other posters going for it.
Goblet of Fire
The poster for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire gets points, like Order of the Phoenix, for presenting characters other than Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It gets some extra credit for those characters being the other four Triwizard Tournament champions, very similar to the American book cover. However, the flowing, model-like hair is a bit overdone and, while fans can appreciate the bleachers in the Black Lake in the background it doesn’t offer much to first-time viewers.
Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince once again offers fan service by offering some callbacks to the American book cover. The poster stars Harry and Dumbledore as they head off after one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
The call back is nice, and the poster is cleaner and more straightforward than Goblet of Fire while not focusing on a purely black background like Order of the Phoenix. It’s still far from the most exciting poster, which is why it sits in the middle of the list.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
The first movie in the Fantastic Beasts franchise did good work presenting all four of its new main characters for audiences to peruse. It also highlights the fact that this story, unlike all Harry Potter stories before it, took place outside of the United Kingdom, specifically in New York. Still, if you’re not sure what you are looking at, it may just look like the sun has exploded behind some very confused 1920s New York City tourists. They get points for a fun font choice, though.
Prisoner of Azkaban
The poster for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban did a great job of highlighting the new style of the first new director (after Christopher Columbus) to take up the helm of the franchise. The fact that Alfonso Cuaron’s poster shows up the golden trio, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, dressed in something other than school robes for the first time was an important and effective choice. With a fun collage of related imagery in the background, the poster feels active but not overcrowded.
Deathly Hallows Part 1
Obviously, designers had a chance to learn from the past when designing for the more recent Harry Potter releases. This one gives us a particular setting, a focus on our main characters, and a clear indication that this movie was going to be far darker, and include far more traveling and running than any before it. Is it a horror movie? Is it an action movie? It’s a little bit of both. No one tried to do too much here, and that’s part of why it works.
Deathly Hallows Part 2
Playing off the same simplicity as its predecessor this poster offers a truly iconic image for the final chapter in the original Harry Potter franchise. Hogwarts burning in the background?
The tag line, “It all ends here,” works to perfection. It’s intimidating, daring, and simple. The silhouette of the castle is, and was at that point, identifiable by a great deal of the general public, and it was used to great advantage in this poster.
The Sorcerer’s Stone
The original poster for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone did everything right. It was fun. It used a lot of different pictures and elements but balanced them well. It definitely started to define Harry’s world for the uninitiated. It should be beautiful because it was created by legendary poster designer Drew Struzan, (who is also known for his work on posters for Star Wars and Indiana Jones). This was the first poster and it was certainly the best.
