Magic is real. If you don’t believe it, look no further than the insane success of the Harry Potter Franchise. Authored by J. K. Rowling, the books sold millions of copies, as well as a film franchise that got rolling before the saga had concluded in print. No one could have predicted how big the Potterverse would get, or that almost 30 years after The Sorcerer’s Stone hit the shelves, it would still be this enormous. For that lasting impression, the Harry Potter franchise is inducted into the Pop Culture Hall of Fame.
The main saga takes place across seven books and eight movies (The final installment was wide enough to require separate films). Throw in side projects such as the Fantastic Beasts subfranchise and the Grindelwald prequels, and you have a massive hit. The fact that Rowling designed the books not as sequels, but as a long arc series made each new release a must-read.
Amazingly, Harry Potter made reading fun, even cool, for kids. And adults. And readers stuck with it, too. The quality of the stories held up from book to book, even getting better as it went along. Basically, it’s a several-thousand-page epic tale that readers couldn’t put down. Parents who started reading the books as teens would share them with their own kids years later.
Then came the movies. There was never a doubt that they’d get made… but would they be good? Or would they cause people to stop reading the books and just wait for the films? Amazingly, they struck cinematic gold with fans and critics alike. The main trio of characters was perfectly portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. Even more miraculous was that they didn’t age out of the roles, improving their acting chops along the way.
Surprisingly, when people saw the movies, they were astonished by how much the images matched what they imagined while reading the books. With those visions confirmed, reading the future books could be an even more vivid experience. For once, the movies actually enhanced the source material.
Throw in all the merchandise, theme park rides, stage productions, college courses, and people actually playing in Quidditch leagues (as best they can without real flying brooms), and it all becomes a seemingly permanent part of our culture. For pulling off such a long-lived magic act, the world of Harry Potter deserves a spot in the Pop Culture Hall of Fame for 2025.
