Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

"Let the magic begin."

2001 2h 32m EN

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 30,375

AdventureFantasy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school's kindly headmaster, Harry uncovers the truth about his parents' deaths—and about the villain who's to blame.

“Let the magic begin.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

HBO Max Amazon ChannelSubscription

Peacock PremiumSubscription

HBO MaxSubscription

Peacock Premium PlusSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

YouTubeRent

Fandango At HomeRent

Spectrum On DemandRent

PlexRent

Amazon VideoBuy

Apple TV StoreBuy

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Daniel Radcliffe
Harry Potter
Rupert Grint
Ron Weasley
Emma Watson
Hermione Granger
Richard Harris
Albus Dumbledore
Tom Felton
Draco Malfoy
Alan Rickman
Severus Snape
Robbie Coltrane
Hagrid
Maggie Smith
Professor McGonagall

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Chris Columbus
Writers: Steve Kloves, Adam Brockbank
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 152 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$125M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 8.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

25 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Harry Potter Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

289+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Chris Columbus, shot by John Seale. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Chris Columbus directs. John Seale behind the camera. John Williams scores. Richard Francis-Bruce cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 152 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2$125M budget — tentpole studio territory.
3Made its money back 8.2× over at the box office.
425 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
6Part of the "Harry Potter Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
7289+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
8Directed by Chris Columbus, shot by John Seale. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
9Original score by John Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
10Editor Richard Francis-Bruce shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
11Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint and Emma Watson carry the top of the cast.
12Marketing tagline: "Let the magic begin.".
13IMDB entry: tt0241527 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
14The top-rated still from this film on TMDB has 8 community votes — a signal the frame composition stuck with viewers.
1530,375 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
16Classified under 24 themes, including "witch", "school friend", "friendship", "london, england".
17Released under 16 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: John Seale
Original score: John Williams
Editing: Richard Francis-Bruce
Production design: Stuart Craig
Costume design: Judianna Makovsky
Makeup / hair: Clare Le Vesconte
VFX supervisor: Jim Berney
Sound: Graham Daniel
Stunt coordinator: Greg Powell
Runtime: 152 min · 2h 32m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $125,000,000
Box office: $1,029,374,615
Return: 823% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

Awards

Saturn Award for Best Costume
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Family Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Harry Potter Collection

The Harry Potter films are a fantasy series based on the series of seven Harry Potter novels by British writer J. K. Rowling.

Also by

Chris Columbus

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-07-24
★ 8/10
Ahh, the magic begins. Harry Potter is an Orphan who on his eleventh birthday discovers he's a wizard and is called to term at Hogwarts School. But Harry is soon to find out that his past, and his destiny, is a truly remarkable, magical, and terrifying thing. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone arrived in a blaze of publicity, one of the most hyped and talked about motion pictures of the decade had finally arrived. The box office was guaranteed to bulge based on fandom book base alone, regardless of if the film got bad word of mouth or not, it was destined to be a monster smash hit. To someone like me who to this day has never read any of the Harry Potter books, it was easy for me to view objectively without comparison to the source - I enjoyed it immensely upon theatre release, and I still enjoy it equally as much now. Director Christopher Columbus, I believe has wisely stayed loyal to the source material, and thus pleased the literature masses. Yet not all newcomers to the party were that taken by the magic on show, that's a little baffling to me because the budget explodes from the screen at every turn. Oliver Twist like sets form the marvellous Diagon Alley, dream like smoke cloaks the splendid Hogwarts Express, the school itself is a monolithic delight nestling in among eerie mountains - and what about the exhilarating introduction of Quidditch? Pulsating and frantic with no amount of devilment to keep us intrigued throughout. The characters are all perfectly formed in the first two thirds of the film, here Columbus pulls off a masterstroke by interjecting the character arcs with dashes of wonder so that we the audience never gets bored. The final reel plays out solidly as per the mysterious "who done it" core of the piece, but it's down to the previous work in the film that we actually care come the finale. Some great casting of the adults really helps to make the film triumph, with Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane (one of the best casting jobs of the decade I would say), Richard Harris, Alan Rickman and Zoe Wanamaker all doing excellent work here. The kids are all newcomers that overnight were to become household names, all fresh faced and wet behind the ears, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint & Tom Felton are a delight to watch, and they all help to keep the feeling of charm constantly glowing up on the screen. Owls here, witches there, what's that strange three headed dog doing over there? The Harry Potter franchise begins with a bang and a whip of the wand, and I and gazillions of others personally love it. 8/10
Venti_Pro2021-08-09
Alright first lets start with my problems with this movie. Some of the effects do not hold up and that can take away from the magic or suspense. The child actors are not very good at acting in this movie. It is way to easy to nitpick this movie and all the nitpicks can be very distracting. I think the main theme was used way to much in the beginning and that kind of took the magic out of the main theme for me. I personally did not get sucked into this world which made me kind of bored at times. People love the harry potter movies but these movies don't really click with me when it comes to characters, the lore, and the magic and I think the full story of harry potter is to drawn out and I just want the movies to get to the point. For me if the ending of the film is not very satisfying my respect for the movie drops a ton and I don't think the ending of this movie was very satisfying! The villain in this movie is super basic. Now on to the good stuff! I like how most of the scenes build up the characters, show us some magic, and it builds up the mystery! I like the sets and costumes a lot! I like most of the music!
Nathan2022-11-25
★ 8/10
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is a masterclass is world building. This movie's world breathes and slowly discovering every inch of it is a joy, from Diagon Alley to Hogwarts Castle. I would not say the story is overly brilliant, but that is just a catalyst for the world in this first film. Despite its minor drawbacks, it does enough to intrigue the viewer and kept me engaged. The performances are a little off, which is expected as this film is primarily carried by three twelve-year-olds. But they get better as the film progresses and the adults in the film are able to bring the average up with their amazing performances. Overall, this movie suffers from being dated with poor effects, CGI, and some rough child acting. Never-the-less, it manages to create an experience like no other and I expect the films to do nothing but improve from the initial entry. Score: 77% | Verdict: Great