By Amanda Roberts, NOPL Creative Director, & Shelby Bull, NOPL Clerk

A new item in the Northern Onondaga Public Library (NOPL) collection comes from the growing craze, binge-watching. As people with streaming video subscriptions watch movie after movie, the library offers Binge Box, a single-checkout DVD box containing four to six films encompassing a theme.

Binge Box has created quite a collection with themes that say it all. One Binge Box is called “‘80s Imagine Movies” and contains unique movies of the 1980s, such as “The Goonies” (1985), “Ghostbusters” (1984), “The Dark Crystal” (1982), “Weird Science (1985), and Labyrinth (1986). Another box called “Don’t Go In the Water,” containing six movies that might make one a little wary of the waves on your next vacation, consists of “Jaws” (1975), “47 Meters Down” (2017), “The Meg” (2018), “The Shallows” (2016), and “Deep Blue Sea” (1999).

Maybe it’s not always about the theme but the actor! Binge Box has dedicated box collections to actors, such as Tom Hanks, which focuses on his travel misfortunes surrounding the characters he plays. The Binge Box titled “Never Travel With Tom Hanks” contains “Cast Away” (2000), “Captain Phillips (2013), “Apollo 13” (1995), and “Sully” (2016). 

If you’re looking for something more serious, “The Many Noms of Meryl Streep” Binge Box is our recommendation. This box contains four movies, each anchored by an award-nominated actor Meryl Streep. With this box, you can witness how well Meryl Streep can transform from one role to another in “The Post” (2017), “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995), “August: Osage County” (2013), and “The Iron Lady” (2011).

With winter break coming, borrowing a Binge Box collection for a week-long stretch might be the gift of peace for any caregiver, as NOPL also has Binge Boxes just for kids. There are Binge Box collections that take you back in time, such as “Kids Movies: The 90s” containing “Free Willy” (1993), “Jumanji” (1995), “Matilda” (1996), “The Sandlot” (1993), and “Space Jam” (1996), while the Binge Box “Dino-mite Movies” take kids to prehistoric times with “The Land Before Time” (1998), “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” (2009), “We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story” (1993), “Walking with Dinosaurs” (2013), and “Theodore Rex” (1995).

New Binge Box movie collections are being added, such as “Best Westerns,” “Nickelodeon Presents,” and “Disney Warrior Princesses.” Binge Box movie collections can be searched within the library catalog using keyword search “binge box” or calling the library. To get started, visit NOPL.org or call Brewerton Library at 315-676-7484, Cicero Library at 315-699-2032, or North Syracuse Library at 315-458-6184.