NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic is forcing Americans to go through every kind of hardship without some of the reliable comforts of hard times.

One of them is the movies.

For more than a century, movie theaters have been a refuge, a communal escape, a place for popcorn-chomping-dreaming-with-your-eyes-open transportation away from everything else.

Now, we're getting a glimpse of life without movie theaters.

Most see this as an opening for streaming services, hastening their expected takeover.

But it has also brought a renewed appreciation for the pleasures of going to the movies and clarified their unique role in social life.

Isolation has only illuminated the power of sitting together in the dark.