Is the “magic of the movies” gone? Within the past year, theaters have closed, movie premieres were postponed if not eventually canceled and the box office plummeted. However, streaming services have risen to the top. Now, each service is in extreme competition on who can grab which movies and how fast can they get them. Services like Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV+ have all broadened their selection to try to accommodate their viewers. This ability to watch whatever movie you please at the touch of your fingertips is the most prominent cause of the phrase “comfort movies” this year.

This phrase gained new meaning on the app TikTok over the past year. A comfort movie is a film someone will watch over and over again to feel some cinematic relief from the world. Before covid, many people had these movies, but due to the immense amount of free time and anxiety quarantine brought, the phrase gained a whole new meaning. Comfort movies are being utilized as a way to feel familiarity in a time of such uncertainty and uncharted water. Many WJ students have found their comfort movies of choice.

“The Sound of Music is my personal comfort movie because I used to watch it every time I got sick when I was a kid and missed school. In addition to this, it is also just such a classic film,” senior Sophia Maxwell said.

It is no secret that this past year has been anything but comfortable. We are encountering something new every day, so it can be difficult to feel a sense of normality.

“I always come back to my comfort movie, which is Almost Famous, because it’s like chicken soup in film form — healing and magical each time I watch it, especially during the past year,” senior Ellie Greenberg said.

For others, quarantine has allowed them to expand their comfort movie cabinet.

“Honestly, quarantine hasn’t changed how I interact with my original comfort movie much, but all this free time has given me the accidental opportunity of gathering a lot more movies to add to my comfort movie catalog. I’ve rewatched a lot of old movies, ones I hadn’t given a second thought to on my first watch, and I have found them bringing me that same familiar feeling of a comfort movie,” senior Abby Matson said.

Overall, although the magic of the theater is temporarily gone, the birth of comfort movies has allowed people to experience this so-called magic from their own homes.