
Earlier today I just finished working my way through the 31 disc set of Harry Potter - The Hogwarts Collection. I got it July 2015 and that was before I had even picked up a Blu-ray Player. I finally got a player about 2 months ago but didn't get around to hooking it up for a while. I got The Hogwarts Collection as one of those Amazon Deals Of The Day and it cost 97 bucks. It's currently $158 on Amazon. You can buy the 8 movies on Blu-ray for $50-70 most of the time. I had all the movies on DVD and was happy enough with those until I saw the Blu-rays. Mostly I felt it was a cheap way to get the documentary Creating The World Of Harry Potter.

I had started buying the Ultimate Editions to get that documentary. Each set comes with the DVD or Blu-ray of the movie, a hardback booklet, a couple of character cards and one part of the 8 part series Creating The World OF Harry Potter. I had only picked up the first two sets before money got diverted to more important things. The first two were about $35 for each movie box set. That's more than $280 for the series. Since I already had the movies on DVD it seemed pricey for a 52 page booklet, a couple of character cards, and a couple hours of making of material so I sort of gave up on them. On the plus side the series is nicely packaged. I do like those boxes, all the discs and extras come in a slipcase with fold over magnetic cover.
When the DOTD for The Hogwarts Edition came along I saw that the 31 disc set had the Blu-ray movies, the DVD movies, Blu-rays of Creating The World Of Harry Potter, 3D versions of some later films and a Bonus Blu-ray with more making of material. At that price, 97 bucks, it was sure worth it, even if they didn't get the booklets and cards. The booklets are nice but they're tiny and the images, which they claim are rare, are pretty small. A lot of the images are in the making of material on the disc and some are in the Harry Potter Page To Screen book that came out at the end of the series. It's a massive book, 7.6 pounds and 13 inches tall, with over 530 color pages of material. I haven't read Page To Screen through yet but I've looked at most of the pictures more than once. It's really a gorgeous book. It's part of a series of making of books that I have been picking up. Those making of books repeat images from book to book. They also repeat a lot of material in Creating The World Of Harry Potter and the other making of material on the discs. I've heard some of the same clips 4 or 5 times over the whole series.

Here's a run down of the Creating The World Of Harry Potter from Amazon. Each part of the series is about an hour long.
Part 1: The Magic Begins - Explore the early decisions that impacted the entire series, and follow the search for the young leads.
Part 2: Characters - Learn about the casting process and how the actors brought J.K. Rowling's beloved characters to life.
Part 3: Creatures - Meet a new group of wizards: the artists who created the monsters and marvels in Harry's world.
Part 4: Sound & Music - Hear how the composers and sound experts used their craft to magnify the series' emotional journey.
Part 5: Evolution - Join the filmmakers as they discuss how the creative vision for the films evolved throughout the series.
Part 6: Magical Effects - Watch how technical wizards conjured up an amazing alternate reality using CGI and practical effects.
Part 7: Story - Listen in as J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves discuss how the books were adapted for the screen.
Part 8: Growing Up - See how the young stars' ideas of acting, fame and themselves have changed over ten years.

That's The Hogwarts Collection. There's a nice hardback book holding the discs, a nice heavy slipcase and all those discs. Here's a rundown of what each disc contains. Again pilfered from Amazon.
Disc 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Theatrical Version + Extended Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 2: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 3: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Creating The World: The Magic Begins (Blu-ray)
Disc 4: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Disc 2 from the Special Edition (DVD)
Disc 5: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Theatrical Version + Extended Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 6: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 7: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Creating the World: Characters (Blu-ray)
Disc 8: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Disc 2 from the Special Edition (DVD)
Disc 9: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Theatrical Version (Blu-ray)
Disc 10: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 11: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Creating the World: Creatures (Blu-ray)
Disc 12: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Disc 2 from the Special Edition (DVD)
Disc 13: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Theatrical Version (Blu-ray)
Disc 14: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 15: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Creating the World: Sound & Music (Blu-ray)
Disc 16: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Disc 2 from the Special Edition (DVD)
Disc 17: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Theatrical Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 18: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 19: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Creating the World: Evolution (Blu-ray)
Disc 20: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Theatrical Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 21: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 22: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Creating the World: Magical Effects + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 23: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Theatrical Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 24: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 25: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Creating the World: Story + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 26: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (Blu-ray 3D)
Disc 27: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Theatrical Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 28: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 29: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Creating the World: Growing Up + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 30: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (Blu-ray 3D)
Disc 31: Harry Potter Hogwarts Collection Bonus Disc (Blu-ray)
I took me so long to watch everything, more than a month, that I want to watch the films again. I've already seen them more than a dozen times each but who's counting. Not me, no point, since I lost count.