Best Appliances and Gadgets for a Movie Night in 2023
Whether you’re with family or friends, nothing beats a night at the movie theater. It’s more than just a good movie and tasty snacks, it’s the entire experience. What if you wanted to bring that magic home, beyond some microwave popcorn and a chosen streaming service?
Believe it or not, turning your home into your very own theater is surprisingly simple with a handful of devices and only a few minutes of your time.
So, to make that happen, we’ve gathered the best appliances and gadgets for movie night available right now. You’ll find that you’ve been doing movie night wrong for years!
1. Optoma HD28HDR
Movies were made for the big screen, and while you can most certainly enjoy them on your TV, there’s nothing quite like casting one with a projector. To make movie night an event you and your kids will remember, grab a projector screen and the Optoma HD28HDR Home Theater Projector for the best and sharpest picture.
When it comes to image quality, the Optoma HD28HDR Home Theater Projector doesn’t stop at a 1080p resolution. Thanks to a combination of 6-segment color and high contrast ratio, the image is so beautiful it’s as if you’re bringing the magic of cinema to your very home. What’s particularly nice is the Dynamic Black technology, which adjusts the lamp output to ensure dark scenes and bright scenes remain clear and detailed.
Interestingly enough, the Optoma HD28HDR Home Theater Projector also features an enhanced gaming mode that boosts the refresh rate to 120Hz and lowers the response time to 8.4ms. In other words, the HD28HDR is equally useful for inviting friends and family over for game night, too!
2. Elite Screens Yard Master 2
Having a high-quality projector is a great start, but it’s only one half of the equation. To bring about the best of what your projector can offer, you need a projector screen. For the best movie-going experience, tonight’s film is going to look best against the Elite Screens Yard Master 2.
Here’s the problem: casting a projector on a nearby wall isn’t going to do your movie any justice. The contrast is going to be off, maybe too dark or too bright, and the colors aren’t going to be very vivid. With the help of CineWhite material, the Elite Screens Yard Master 2 beautifully captures all that detail and color accuracy that would otherwise be lost, even if you’re at the edge of its maximum viewing angles.
What’s particularly wonderful about the Elite Screens Yard Master 2 is that it has everything you need for moving movie night to the outdoors. Oh, joy! Thanks to its sturdiness, durable T-legs, ground stakes, rigging cord, and support rings, the Yard Master 2 has no qualms about being used as your personal drive-in movie theater.
3. Cuisinart EasyPop Hot Air Popcorn Maker
I don’t know about you, but the smell of popcorn stirs fond memories of the theater and always gets me in the mood for a flick, good or bad. When it’s movie night, what better snack to make than popcorn? Bring some of that magic home with the Cuisinart EasyPop Hot Air Popcorn Maker.
You might’ve noticed the time it takes to microwave a bag of popcorn can vary greatly. If it’s in too long, the popcorn burns; if it’s taken out too soon, many kernels never reach their full, delicious potential. Thanks to the way the Cuisinart EasyPop Hot Air Popcorn Maker is designed, kernels are ejected shortly after they’ve popped to avoid unnecessary burning.
More important than a perfectly cooked batch of popcorn is the ability to warm a tray of butter at the same time. What you’ll find along the top of the Cuisinart EasyPop Hot Air Popcorn Maker is a tray that not only measures the right amount of popcorn kernels but also warms a pad of butter using the heat from the popcorn maker itself.
4. Betty Crocker Mini
What’s just as synonymous with movies as popcorn? Why, tortilla chips and delicious nacho cheese, but it has to be warm, in which case the Betty Crocker Mini is the way to go for your melted cheese goodness.
With the Betty Crocker Mini, you simply toss in your preferred cheese and watch as the melting pot slowly warms and melts it to a gooey consistency perfect for dipping nacho chips while you watch the latest blockbuster. However, the Mini is nothing but versatile. It’s just as useful for melting chocolate, warming soup, and gravy, so you’ll find yourself breaking it out on more than one occasion.
Best of all, both the glass lid and removable crock are dishwasher safe, making cleanup a breeze. Scrubbing the Betty Crocker Mini in the middle of the night won’t be on your list of chores.
5. TCL Alto 6+
Let’s face it, even the most premium video projectors can feature built-in speakers with subpar sound quality. They’ll get the job done, sure, but it really sours the home cinema experience when you lack a great set of speakers. To avoid bending your ears just to hear the movie, it may be time to hook up the TCL Alto 6+ Soundbar.
First off, the TCL Alto 6+ isn’t just a soundbar, but a soundbar and subwoofer combo. Right off the bat, you’re getting a rich mixture of frequencies, from lows and highs. More importantly, the bass from the subwoofer does an excellent job enriching mids and highs instead of simply being loud, creating a much fuller soundscape regardless of the entertainment. In fact, you can quickly switch between specialized sound modes for movies, music, and television, so you’re always getting the best experience.
Best of all, the TCL Alto 6+ comes built with a wonderful selection of connectivity such as HDMI, optical, Bluetooth, and 3.5mm AUX. This means you’ll be able to connect just about any movie projector you have on hand, drastically enhancing the sound quality!
6. Courant CPM1240R 12-inch Pizza Maker
Who doesn’t love pizza? If there’s a better time to grab a slice, it’s when you’re kicking back with the family on movie night. Thanks to the Courant CPM1240R 12-inch Pizza Maker, crafting the perfect pizza for the perfect movie has never been easier.
Given the circular design of the Courant CPM1240R 12-inch Pizza Maker, you won’t ever have to worry about a misshapen mess. On top of that, the onboard timer and temperature controls completely remove the guesswork in making a tasty pizza. You throw down the dough, sprinkle it with your favorite toppings, and close the top. It’s really that simple!
Despite being one of the best solutions for making the perfect pizza, the Courant CPM1240R 12-inch Pizza Maker is just as useful for cooking other mouthwatering foods, like burgers. By opening the lid 180 degrees, cookware goes from a pizza maker to your very own indoor grill. Afterward, when your family has had their fill and the cookware has cooled, the non-stick coating ensures cleanup won’t be a hassle.
7. KODAK Luma 350 Smart Projector
Projectors these days are far slimmer than their ancient ancestors, but the best ones are most certainly going to require a power source. What if, say, you wanted to take your family camping and enjoy a movie? Sure, your smartphone could work, but wouldn’t it be better with the KODAK Luma 350 Smart Projector?
You see, the KODAK Luma 350 Smart Projector is so thin, you can easily slip it into the small compartment frequently found on any generic backpack. In addition to having two built-in speakers, it features a fairly powerful 7500mAh rechargeable battery. That means the Luma 350 doesn’t need to be plugged in!
Despite being small, the KODAK Luma 350 Smart Projector isn’t short on features. You’ll have access to HDMI, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, which gives you a wonderful selection of video sources. Most importantly, it’s running Android 6.0, allowing access to a bunch of streaming apps from Google Play. If portability is your greatest concern, the Luma 350 is the perfect option.
Q: Which is Better: Microwave or Air-popped Popcorn?
If we’re talking taste, it’s not going to matter if you microwave or air-pop your popcorn, in the event both are cooked to perfection. With that said, air-popped popcorn does have a clear lead, and it’s largely because of how it’s made.
Pick up any box of microwave popcorn, and you’ll find it’s likely pre-buttered and oiled, the latter of which is essential for when it’s cooking in the microwave. If you’re worried about your health, this obviously poses a problem.
Thankfully, air-popping popcorn avoids that altogether because, generally speaking, you don’t use oil or even season. In other words: air-popping is the healthiest way to make popcorn. On top of that, air-popping popcorn means you can season and drizzle whatever you want without mixing together undesirable flavors.
Q: What Do You Need for Movie Night in the Backyard?
As a host, a successful movie night in the backyard needs, at a bare minimum, a movie projector, projector screen, and possibly speakers if the projector doesn’t have any built-in.
If you’re providing snacks, as a good host should, popcorn and nachos (with cheese) are easy sellers. Having a popcorn maker is a great way to make large batches of healthy popcorn, while also making it fun since your guests can then flavor it however they want.
It also goes without saying, but make sure you have plenty of seating or let your guests know ahead of time to bring their own chairs.
