"Accio Harry Potter!" said HBO.
The cable network has acquired the rights to air all eight movies in the fan-favorite hit film series, six years after the final movie was released to theaters. HBO will start broadcasting the Harry Potter films on its channels on January 1, New Year's Day. They will also be made available on HBO GO, HBO Now, HBO on Demand and affiliate portals.
The Harry Potter series, which starts with the 2001 movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and ends with the 2011 film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, joins the prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is already airing and streaming on HBO platforms.
On January 1 at 9. a.m. ET, HBO will air all Harry Potter films in chronological order and end the marathon with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Starting on January 2, one film in the series will air each night.
This marks the first time that all nine films in J.K. Rowling's wizarding world will air unedited and commercial-free on a network. For years, the Harry Potter films had aired continuously on the Disney-owned cable channel Freeform, formerly known as ABC Family.
The eight-film Harry Potter series stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint and is the second-highest-grossing film franchise of all time with $7.7 billion in box office sales.
A sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is currently in the works and is set for release in theaters in November 2018.