Netflix adds all eight Harry Potter films to its streaming service

All eight Harry Potter films will be available to stream in the UK from today (Wednesday 17 May), Netflix has announced.

On Tuesday (16 May), Netflix UK announced that the hit magical franchise would be carried on their platform from Wednesday.

This marks the first time that the films, adapted from JK Rowling’s best-selling children’s novels, will be carried as a full collection on a streaming platform.

Prior to now, fans could only access the films when they were broadcast on television or by buying or renting them.

As of yet, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone through to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will only be available on Netflix in the UK and Ireland.

Hogwarts fans in the United States can access the film via HBO’s streaming platform, Max.

The Harry Potter films are some of the most successful franchise movies in British cinema. Upon the final instalment’s release in 2011, it broke UK box office records after making £23m in its first weekend.

The release of the first film in 2001 instantly catapulted its young cast, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), to global fame.

Last year, the three actors joined their other castmates for a televised special: Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.

Series author Rowling did not appear, claiming in August that she simply chose not to take part, rather than it being a snub on the organisers’ part due to her controversial views on transgender rights.

Rowling’s wizarding world has also been depicted in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, which stars British actor Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a wizard with a love of magical creatures.

The series, which to date includes three fantasy films, also features an ensemble cast including Jude Law as a young Albus Dumbledore, Colin Farrell and Katherine Waterson. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen replaced Johnny Depp in the role as main antagonist Gellert Grindelwald after the second film.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the Harry Potter books would be adapted into television series featuring a whole new cast and slated to be released over an entire decade.