Historical documentaries often chronicle lifestyles of many decades ago, often centuries: the Roaring 20's, the Fabulous 50's, the Civil War. Because the world is changing so rapidly, particularly in the area of media, what seemed cultural mainstays only one or two decades ago are now referred to as by-gone eras. By-gone eras are no longer a half-century ago or longer. In this case, the documentary is focusing on Blockbuster Video, a cultural phenomenon mainly experienced by Gen X'ers from circa 1990 to 2010.
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...
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...