This nostalgic documentary reveals the real story of Blockbuster's demise, and how one last location in Bend, Oregon keeps the spirit of a bygone era alive.This nostalgic documentary reveals the real story of Blockbuster's demise, and how one last location in Bend, Oregon keeps the spirit of a bygone era alive.This nostalgic documentary reveals the real story of Blockbuster's demise, and how one last location in Bend, Oregon keeps the spirit of a bygone era alive.
- Awards
- 1 win
- Narrator
- (voice)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPaul Scheer mentioned working at a Blockbuster in the early 90s. The Blockbuster he worked at was located in Syosset, New York.
- GoofsThe captioning for Kevin Smith calls him "Jason" - - most likely for frequent working partner Jason Mewes.
- Quotes
Jared Rasic: Video stores and movie theaters have always kind of felt like my church. They always felt like the place where I go to feel the most, like, the calm, the normal human being that I've always wanted to be, but I'm too weird to ever get there. But I walk into the video store and I'm like, "Oh. This is where I'm normal."
- ConnectionsFeatured in Subject (2022)
The interviewees discuss Blockbuster Video in ways that remind me of my grandparents talking about malt shops, horse-racing tracks or Coney Island. Blockbuster Video, began with a single store in 1985 and by 2004 was at its height with about 7500 stores US nationwide. However, by 2019, there was only one store left. What happened? The most interesting part of the documentary is the history of Blockbuster which is only about a third of the film at best. Most of the film is the interviewees talking about Blockbuster culture and the last Blockbuster Video still standing in Bend, Oregon. A lot of focus is on the general manager of the last store, Sandi Harding.
When I was at university in the 1990's, everyone I knew had a Blockbuster Video card. It was the culture for Gen-X'er film entertainment in lieu of going to see a new release in the theater. But even young mom's and dad's could rent movies for the whole family. New video releases were astronomically expensive, often costing $80 to $100 on VHS. But you could rent them for $3 to $5 for one to two nights at Blockbuster. You could gather a group, order pizza and watch the original "Halloween", "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", or maybe a new release on video like "Silence of the Lambs". Or something nostalgic like "Plan Nine from Outer Space".
According to the documentary, Blockbuster wasn't exactly put out of business by Netflix as the conventional wisdom goes. But if you listen carefully, BB was in a way. But bad business decisions contributed.
BB was bought by Viacom which intended the video rental franchise as a cash cow to buy other media corporations such as the QVC Network. By then BB's stock price was slipping. BB was also offered a lucrative deal with Warner Bros for the upcoming explosion of DVD's which would replace VHS. The offer was tremendous: exclusive rights to distribute new release DVD's for rental before general sale. BB turned it down. Subsequently, Warner Bros lowered its new releases' prices from $80/$100 to $20 to $30. Now instead of renting for $4, consumers could just buy DVD's and own them forever.
In the early 2000's, BB had the opportunity to buy Netflix. That was turned down. And now they're down to one last store in Bend, Oregon. An interesting doc which chronicles a by-gone era... of only like 10 years ago? We live in interesting time...
- classicalsteve
- Apr 3, 2021
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- El último Blockbuster
- Filming locations
- Blockbuster Video - 211 NE Revere Ave., Bend, Oregon, USA(The Last Blockbuster)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $50,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1