‘Harry Potter’ Movies Will Finally Start Streaming Online

The “Harry Potter” movies have managed to avoid being on a streaming platform for years. While fans can easily buy or rent the movies online, streaming from a service users already pay for — like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon — has pretty much been off limits. That will change in 2018.

The new year will bring new rules to the “Harry Potter” movies. In January, HBO Go and HBO Now will be streaming the magical movies. The eight films, which chronicle Harry Potter’s (Daniel Radcliffe) journey to defeating Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), will be available starting Jan. 1.

HBO Go is already available to HBO subscribers. They just need their log in information from their cable provider. HBO Now is for those without cable and costs $14.99 a month.

The “Potter” films join J.K. Rowling’s other Wizarding World franchise, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” The first movie in the series, which came out in 2016, hit HBO platforms several months ago.

The films will also be available on HBO OnDemand and air on HBO channels, of course. HBO Family will celebrate with a week with the Wizarding World films. On Jan. 2 at 8 p.m., the channel will air “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and show the next movie every night at the same time until the celebration concludes with “Fantastic Beasts” on Jan. 10.

“Harry Potter” fans will find the Warner Bros.-produced franchise, which started in 2001 and finished in 2011, in a couple different places in 2018. While Freeform (formerly known as ABCFamily) has become known for their Harry Potter Weekends, the Disney-owned network will lose the rights to the famous films in 2018.

NBCUniversal bought the commercial television rights for the movies in 2016. The deal goes into effect on July 1, 2018. At the time the new rights were announced, the company planned to air the flicks mostly on USA Network and Syfy. NBCUniversal may have paid as much as $250 million for the exclusive broadcast and cable network television rights.