Release Year: 2001

Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Director: Chris Columbus

Writer: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling (novel)

Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

Before 1997, if we threw out the phrase "He Who Must Not Be Named," you'd have been stumped. Who is it? Someone bad, right? Hitler? Stalin? Pol Pot? Your ex?

And if we had clarified by saying "You Know Who," you'd have been even more baffled: who is this guy? Is he standing right behind me? Is he listening? Why can't we say his name? Do I know?

Now, of course, we know exactly who this guy is: Voldemort. Everyone's favorite no-nose snake whisperer.

And that, folks, is how crazily famous the Harry Potter books are. They're so famous that we immediately know the identity of a guy whose identity is purposefully withheld. That's massive.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the movie, was inevitable the moment Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the book, became a phenomenal hit. The story of a lonely orphan boy who discovers a world of magic and wizardry was an instant classic, even before it destroyed every bestseller list known to man…mostly because it found a fresh new way to interpret the timeless story of The Hero's Journey.

And Hollywood, ever eager for the next reliable cash cow (or is that cash blask-ended skrewt?) was happy to produce a high-end film version of Rowling's novels. This, the first in what became an eight-movie mega-saga, was an appreciably ginormous hit, delivering a respectful adaptation of Harry's first big adventure at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Critics loved it, and audiences drank it down like a nice mug of butterbeer.

That's all to be expected…considering the source novel and the fact that everyone with a pulse has either read it or heard about it. What wasn't entirely expected is what a terrific film it turned out to be. Movies based on popular books can end up belly-flopping. Think of The Golden Compass. Think of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Think of—oh, dear—The Da Vinci Code.

But Rowling took a special interest in how her books were treated. Not only did she stand up and fight to make sure it came together the way she wanted it to, but she also had the wisdom to know when to trust other people to do right by it all. In Chris Columbus, she found the proper director to start her epic series off the right way. He super-successfully transferred the story to the silver screen, where Potter lovers and newbies alike could see what all the fuss was about.

The results? A modern fantasy classic that raked in almost $1 billion worldwide and launched one of the most successful franchises—both creatively and commercially—in movie history.

Like Harry itself, this film's fate was probably destiny…though we shudder to think what might have happened if the Heyday Films Sorting Hat had paired Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with a director like Quentin Tarantino (who's a Slytherin if ever we saw one), Terrence Malick (who's totally Ravenclaw), or Michael Bay (did someone say Hufflepuff?).

But this flick got paired with a 100% Gryffindor team. Grab your chocolate frogs and watch—or, more likely re-watch—the first movie in the Potter series.

We hear what you're saying. You're saying:

"Um, because Harry Potter. Next question?"

It's hard not to get more sardonic than Minerva McGonagall, more patiently exasperated than Albus Dumbledore, and more eye-roll-y than Severus Snape when you're presented with a text that presumes to tell you why you should care about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

After all, there's the whole "cultural icon beloved by millions across the globe and based on the most influential children's novel since Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" thing.

But we're talking about the film version of this beloved novel. We know that there are more reasons to care about the Potterverse than there are flavors in a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (stay away from those earwax-flavored guys).

When it comes to the cinematic event that is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, though, there's a clear Reason #1. This film broke new ground when it first hit theaters in 2001.

As a series, the Harry Potter films helped cement the notion of franchise filmmaking—multiple movies bound around a common universe, and which have the propensity to become sub-genres all on their own.

Movies had sequels well before Sorcerer's Stone, of course…and some of them were even worth watching (what's up, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West?). But the general rule was the sequels grew increasingly shoddy the further along you went. Smart movie series knew when to call it quits, while others just kept going until their increasingly stinktacular nature kept audiences away…at which time the studio folded up the whole circus tent and went on to something new.

There was only one exception: the James Bond films. (And everyone assumed that they were a one-of-a-kind fluke.)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone changed all that. It had a self-contained story covering another six movies (which the producers expanded to seven by breaking the last chapter in two) corresponding to Rowling's novels (many of which were still in the planning stages at that point). That meant the sequels wouldn't just have to regurgitate the material: they could conceivably get better as time went on, and encompass all manner of new characters and situations.

Nowadays, that's par for the course. The Marvel Universe and re-invigorated Star Wars franchises are leading the way, but you can hardly sneeze without knocking over some new set of novels being turned into four- or five-movie arcs, or superheroes galore showing up in blockbuster after money-making blockbuster.

But that just wasn't the case before Harry Potter. The first X-Men movie preceded it, and it was followed into theaters by the first Lord of the Rings a few scant weeks later, but this film showed what was possible in ways that no other movie could.

That made Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone groundbreaking in ways that have nothing to do with its given status as an instant hit…but everything to do with it being a massively influential film. It set the stage for our current movie environment—and, more importantly—it showed that nothing beats a quality film if you want to set up a franchise of your very own.