20 years on from the premiere of first Harry Potter movie, franchise is still spawning spin-off films and, perhaps, a TV series

On November 4, 2001, the first of eight films based on author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books had its premiere in London, and was an instant hit

There was pressure on its creators but they got everything right – from the casting of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint to shooting it in the UK

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Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe in a scene from “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, which premiered on November 4, 2001. It became “Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone” in overseas markets, and marked the start of Potter movie mania. Photo: AP

Published: 5:15am, 4 Nov 2021Updated: 12:16pm, 4 Nov 2021

On November 4, 2001, a movie premiered that would change the world. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first of eight films based on the bestselling books by British author J.K. Rowling, was unveiled at London’s Odeon Leicester Square cinema.

As young actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint stepped out into the spotlight, it was the start of Potter movie mania, a magical cinematic journey that launched careers, spawned franchises, opened theme parks and influenced a generation of children’s Halloween costumes.

Two years earlier, producer David Hayman had persuaded Warner Bros to part with £1 million to obtain the rights to Rowling’s first four books about a boy wizard named Harry and his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As the story goes, he’d been looking for a children’s book to adapt for the big screen when his assistant suggested he read the first in the series, published in 1997, which tells of how Harry’s parents were murdered by a dark wizard named Lord Voldemort.

It was a case of right place, right time for Hayman, as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone became a bestseller and Rowling began cranking out follow-ups for what would ultimately become a seven-book series.