In the past year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the movie industry, especially when it comes to how movies are released. Nowadays, in one way or another, most movies that are released in theaters are also accompanied by a digital release around the same time. But long before the pandemic, the way people watched movies at home had drastically changed. Instead of watching movies from their personal DVD collection or renting movies from video stores like Blockbuster, people now either rent them for $6 on Amazon or watch them on a streaming site they are subscribed to like Netflix or HBO Max. However, despite all of these changes and having direct access to all of these streaming services, I still choose to physically buy the movies I enjoy.

Since high school, movies have been a huge part of my life. In fact, before I came to St. John’s, I initially wanted to be a filmmaker. But even as my career goals have changed, my love for movies has only continued to grow. Nowadays, I enjoy many different types of movies, ranging from Marvel blockbusters to low budgeted indie and foreign films. I even work as a projectionist at my local indie theater, where I get to see movies for free whenever I am not working! 

Whenever I see a movie I really enjoy, I want to be able to physically own it on Blu-ray as soon as possible. To me, there is no better feeling in the world than owning physical copies of the movies you love and cherish. I never have to worry about not being able to watch these films when they leave Netflix or having to pay money to rent the title every time I want to watch it. Whenever I add a cherished film of mine to my collection, I feel as if that movie is truly mine, a feeling I certainly do not get whenever I have access to that movie digitally. I also really like the idea of having my own movie library to show off to other people. To me, my collection not only represents my love of movies but also who I am as a movie fan.

Now obviously, with the popularity of streaming, physical media sales for movies have sadly gone down in recent years. While I do personally use streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime to watch movies I do not physically own, I fully intend to buy the movies I love on a physical format to own permanently. However, based on current trends, buying movies on DVD or Blu-ray will likely one day not be an option anymore. But no matter what happens, I am grateful to have my own personal collection where I am able to watch the movies I love and cherish whenever I want.