“You’re a wizard Harry!” is one of the most iconic lines in the films, to many, it is one of the hundreds of iconic lines said throughout the 8 films of the Harry Potter franchise. 10 years ago we said goodbye to the franchise that a lot of us grew up with, as the final film ‘Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2’ premiered in London. 

EW

Our journey with Harry, Hermione and Ron came to an end on July 7th, 2011, and we truly can’t believe that a 10 year-long franchise already is 20 years old. Many films and franchises only last a few years amongst 3 films, but for J.K Rowling the story of Harry Potter and the gang was a long journey. 

In 1997, J.K Rowling introduced us to the wizarding world and from then on we fell in love with the characters, the plot, Dobby the elf and some may even say, professor Snape. As the books were released and the story kept getting better, the films became a missing piece to the puzzle that was “what would it be like to live in the wizarding world?” Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint  (The Golden Trio) all became icons at the age of 9 when they all got cast in their respective roles, roles that they know they will never have the opportunity to play again (but who knows.)

Over the span of 10 years the films had become some of the most-watched and highest-grossing films of all time, and are still on the list. The film The Deathly Hallows Part 2 has grossed over $1.3 billion dollars and is ranked 13th, while the first book of the franchise Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone has grossed over 107 million copies sold and is #5 on the top seller’s list. 

To this day everybody knows what Harry Potter is, even if they haven’t watched the films or read the books (which is highly unlikely), people know of or about the wizarding world, or at least knows someone who is a fan. 

NPR

The best part about this franchise is that it still has the same fire burning that it did on day one of its releases. Fans still get tattoos, adults still want to go have butterbeer at Universal Studios, and Emma Watson is still stopped on the street and called by Hermione instead of Emma. Each cast member has managed to still participate in anything related to Harry Potter because it not only means something to them but it still means something to the fans. 

10 years may seem like a good amount of time to forget about a silly made-up story about a world full of wizards, but the truth is that story did and still does bring out the kid in all of us. It would take a million years to forget about Harry Potter, and the story and the films will go down in history as some of the best pieces of art of all time.