Why do we enjoy movies we've already seen?

We rewatch our favorite movies for comfort, for the memories tied to them and for the people we watched them with. An experiment with 120 students showed that a second viewing is more enjoyable than we expect. The reason: we discover details we missed the first time.

Three reasons we rewatch our favorite movies

People go back to movies they know mainly for comfort, for connection with others and for memories. That is how a review published in 2025 by a team led by the psychologist Shackleford sums up the research so far.

• Comfort. A movie you know does not catch you off guard. You choose it to calm down or cheer up after a hard day.
• People. You rewatch the movie with someone you love or show it to someone who has not seen it. Some people grow attached to the characters as if they were acquaintances.
• Memories. The movie takes you back to a period of your life and shows you how much you have changed since then.

The same review also notes a risk: if you only rewatch movies you know, you come across new stories less often. Streaming platforms reinforce the habit, because they recommend what you have already seen. If you want to mix things up, start with the best movies of all time, as voted by readers.

What the Netflix movie experiment showed

A second viewing is more enjoyable than we think. The psychologist Ed O’Brien, from the University of Chicago, tested this on 120 students, in a study published in 2019.

Each student picked a movie on Netflix that they had not seen and expected to like. After watching it, they gave the movie a score from 1 to 7. The next evening, some of the students watched the same movie again. The others only estimated what score they would give it on a second viewing.

The scores given to the movie, from 1 to 7, in Ed O’Brien's experiment

The movie was liked a little less the second time. But the score dropped by about half as much as the others expected: almost one point, compared with 1.8 points. The same pattern appeared in the study for a museum exhibition and a video game.

Why is a second viewing better than we expect?

Because on a second viewing you notice new things. That is how O’Brien explains the result: after watching something once, we feel we have seen it all. When we imagine watching it again, we replay the same story in our minds, without the details we missed.

The difference is bigger for things rich in detail. In another experiment from the same study, people most underestimated how much they would enjoy seeing more complex images again. By the same logic, a movie with many characters and clues has more to show the second time.

On a second viewing you can watch for:

• the clues that set up the ending and that you missed;
• the characters in the background, who react while someone else is talking;
• the music: when a theme comes back and which scene it goes with;
• the objects that appear in several scenes.

Does knowing the ending spoil the fun?

Not necessarily, but studies on spoilers have given contradictory results. They used short stories, not movies. The question was the same: do you enjoy a story less if you know how it ends?

In 2011, Jonathan Leavitt and Nicholas Christenfeld, from the University of California, San Diego, tested 12 short stories. The authors included Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl and Chekhov. The versions with the ending revealed in advance were liked more, even for the detective stories.

In 2016, a team led by Levine repeated the idea with other stories and 215 students. This time, the spoiler given in advance reduced the enjoyment. What we can say for certain is less: a known ending does not automatically ruin a good story.

Nostalgia: the movie that takes you back

Nostalgia is a pleasant longing for a past period, and a movie you rewatch easily brings it on. In 2006, the psychologists Tim Wildschut and Constantine Sedikides showed in several experiments that nostalgia strengthens the feeling of closeness to others. It also raises self-confidence and brings a good mood.

Their experiments did not use movies, but memories in general. Movies were discussed by Cristel Russell and Sidney Levy, who interviewed people who reread books, rewatch movies or go back to familiar places. Many used rewatching like a mirror: they realized how much they had changed.

For example, a comedy you saw as a child may feel different at 30: you laugh at jokes you did not understand back then.

When a movie is no longer worth rewatching

When you know it so well that you no longer notice anything new. The 2025 review describes three possible results of rewatching: boredom, growing enjoyment and a better understanding of the movie.

In O’Brien's experiment, too, the score dropped a little, just one day later. If a movie bores you, pick a new one from the best comedy movies or the best family movies.

Best Comedy Movies

Questions about rewatching movies

If you want a long series to rewatch, the guide to the order of the Marvel movies shows you two ways to go through the same movies.