Christma schmistmas. It’s the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter’s on-screen conception and for those who celebrate, it’s sure to be an even more hallowed time. Whether you know the first film as The Philosopher’s Stone or The Sorcerer’s Stone, the first Harry Potter movie is a landmark both in franchise filmmaking and many people’s childhoods. Revisiting it could be just what the doctor – or Professor McGonagall – ordered at the end of a long year.
But aside from seven more movies and two Fantastic Beasts films, the two intervening decades have spawned dozens of intriguing offshoots, ideas and spin-offs to offer a quick Potter fix whenever one is needed. From studio tours to Quidditch leagues to quizzes, via a whole lot of Lego, the Harry Potter universe is right there for anyone who wants to take a step back in time. Here are a few ideas.
Watch the big cast reunion
Anything those muggles Friends can do, the Harry Potter posse can… well, also do. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’s stars – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint – and director Chris Columbus will be reuniting for an HBO Max special called Return to Hogwarts on January 1. Expect lots of nostalgic memories of those tweenage early days, and appearances from co-stars like Helena Bonham Carter, Matt Lewis, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Imelda Staunton and Tom Felton.
Invest in the 20th anniversary box set
Christmas is coming and Potter completists might want to add this brand-new 4K HD collection to Santa’s list. Seriously, how many box sets come in a train?
Tune into a new Harry Potter quiz show
Know your Aragog from your basilisk? An upcoming quiz show – Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses – is airing over four nights and is absolutely for you. It kicks off on TBS and Cartoon Network in the US on November 28, with Helen Mirren asking the questions and teams of three Potter fans hopefully answering them.
Watch all of Daniel Radcliffe’s subsequent movies
If you had skinhead and horned goat-man on Daniel Radcliffe’s post-Potter bingo card, congrats. No one could accuse the actor of picking the obvious or easy route. His IMDb page reads like a Halloween cheese dream: Swiss Army Man, Imperium and Horns are all gutsy attempts to establish the actor beyond the walls of Hogwarts. We’d also recommend the chills of The Woman in Black and the lit-cool musings of Kill Your Darlings. We would not recommend Victor Frankenstein.
…And ‘Boyhood’
If there’s ever a film that understands what it’s like to wave goodbye to childhood during the Harry Potter era, it’s Richard Linklater’s Best Picture nominee, a movie that marks the passing of time partly in Potter books. A midnight book launch of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’, in which Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his sister Samantha (Lorelai Linklater) queue for their copies, offers a moment that will surely chime the millions of Potterphiles. There’s even a mash-up video to tie the two movies together.
Read ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’
So we can’t catch the acclaimed stage play in the UAE yet, but we can read it. The story centres on the offspring of Harry and old rival Draco Malfoy, in a variety of cities around the world. It’s showing in London, Melbourne, Tokyo, Hamburg, San Francisco, Toronto and New York, if you’re headed there this Christmas break.
Binge the whole film series
Got 1,178 hours to kill? Then maybe it’s time to mainline the entire original series in one go and, through the haze of inertia, re-evaluate your opinion on which is the best (just kidding, it’s still Prisoner of Azkaban). No need to throw the Fantastic Beasts films into the mix though: 19 and a half hours of continuous Pottering is a walk in the park. Twenty-four is just absurd.
Visit the Wizarding World’s 20th anniversary site
The official Harry Potter website is its own cottage industry these days, keeping the army of fans appraised of all things wizard-related. There’s plenty of news, info, quizzes and other Potterphrenalia on there for anyone celebrating the 20th birthday.
Start a quidditch team
Get some mates, grab a few broomsticks from your local hardware store and fashion a rudimentary snitch out of socks. Presto! You’re ready to tear about the park in honour of Hogwarts’ quidditch superstars.
Get Stephen Fry to read the book to you
Okay, not in person, but the audiobook is the next best thing: Fry, one of six British actors not to appear in the movies, narrates The Philosopher’s Stone with his customary eloquence, charm and sense of drama.
