Create the Ultimate Oscar Movie Night at Home With These 12 Items

If this were any other year, we'd be spending these final few weeks leading up to the Oscars bolting from movie theater to movie theater, frantic to catch a screening of every Best Picture nominee. But this isn’t any other year, meaning that we've had to look elsewhere—namely our home TVs—for the cream of the crop. If there’s a movie theater popcorn-shaped hole in your heart, come sit by us. You’re not alone.

Ever since March 2020, we've been perfecting our home theater experience; now, over a year later, we've gotten it down to a science. Here’s how it goes: on Friday nights after a long workweek, turn off all the lights, burn a vampire’s crypt worth of candles, and cozy up in front of a movie with homemade popcorn. This home theater set-up is basically a mausoleum, but with better snacks. Your own version of home viewing nirvana might look different than that, but that’s the whole point: at home, you can enjoy a flick with all your creature comforts, rather than suffer the indignity of sneaking a pizza box into the theater under your winter coat (Regal Union Square, I’m so sorry).

Lest you think tricking out your home theater set-up means dropping serious cash on high-tech projectors or surround sound systems, think again. Some of the best innovations are cheap thrills that pack a big punch. Here, we've rounded up our home movie night essentials. There’s still time for you to test out some of your own before the Oscars are upon us.