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Netflix Set To Release Documentary on the Last Ever Blockbuster Store (hypebeast.com) 71

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Netflix is officially dropping a documentary about the last ever Blockbuster video store. Titled, The Last Blockbuster, the film gives a nostalgic glimpse of the video store, featuring bevy of interviews from previous employees, fans and business people. From a report: The documentary focuses on the last-ever remaining Blockbuster in the world in Bend, Oregon. A recent statement on the documentary's official Facebook page reads, "A lot of people know that Blockbuster had the chance to buy Netflix early on and they passed on the opportunity. In an ironic twist of fate, our movie The Last Blockbuster is coming to Netflix one week from today. We are beyond excited for people to get to see this tribute to era of home video on the world's largest streaming service. Just don't forget to rewind it when you're done watching it and bring it back by noon on Wednesday."
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Netflix Set To Release Documentary on the Last Ever Blockbuster Store More

Netflix Set To Release Documentary on the Last Ever Blockbuster Store

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  • Dropping? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jmc23 ( 2353706 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @09:55AM (#61147506) Journal
    What a poor choice of words. Someones gramma trying to be hip and using the word incorrectly.

    • Re:Dropping? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @10:28AM (#61147644) Journal
      Agreed. It's fine if some hipster artist says they'll "drop an album", it's clear what that menas from context. But in normal parlance, "dropping" means almost the exact opposite, e.g. "Netflix is dropping a documentary" means they are cancelling production of it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dwedit ( 232252 )

      DROP is how you delete databases. Gives a new meaning to the hip lit slang term "Dropping" an album.

  • Is it legal? (Score:4, Funny)

    by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @09:55AM (#61147508) Journal
    I mean isn't it like the murderer writing a book detailing the agony suffered by his last victim?
    • That was my initial thought seeing this... that it feels a bit dirty, like O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It" book.

  • And good riddance! (Score:3)

    by Mattcelt ( 454751 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @09:57AM (#61147526)

    Couldn't have happened to a nicer company. Blockbuster corporation was a festering cesspool that burnt itself to the ground from within.

    Employee rights abuses were commonplace, and corporate policies were often draconian.

    I can't imagine what horrors would have befallen Netflix had Blockbuster purchased them. The world would be much worse off.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      Excessive late, sweet heart deals with producers that limited content to other shops. My preference was to go to an independent but at some point they just could stay in business. Independents had to pay full price for movies, which was not $20 and then try to recoup the cost. Blockbuster was basically given the movies for a cut. And they still could not make it.

      • Independents had to pay full price for movies, which was not $20

        A lot of independent rental stores thought they had to pay outrageous prices through a distributor - I'd seen the price sheets many years ago. They didn't realize that the First Sale Doctrine is what enabled rental stores and they could buy their copies at Wal-Mart.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by fermion ( 181285 )
          There was a time when Sunday school classes thought they could play rented movies. Until they couldnâ(TM)t.

          • Performance rights don't come with a DVD/VHS purchase. But private viewing rights do. And they follow the owner. Even an owner who is only renting the property temporarily.

    • Employee rights abuses were commonplace, and corporate policies were often draconian.

      So you're saying Blockbuster was Amazon before Amazon existed? Guess we'll see how long Amazon lasts when people stop buying from them due to these harsh policies and actions, such as prohibiting libraries from using digital books to lend out [slashdot.org].

  • Netflix didn't kill blockbuster. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @10:00AM (#61147534)

    Netflix didn't kill blockbuster, but Blockbuster did a good job at hurting themselves.

    So pre-streaming Netflix, you pay a monthly fee and get DVD in the mail, watch them as long as you want and return them and you get the next movie on your queue. This did create competition with Blockbuster. However Blockbusters response when it got popular was insane. So the first part was getting rid of late fees on their videos, which seems like a perfectly normal response. But shortly after that they actually put on paid commercials, scolding people who haven't returned their videos saying you still need to return your videos because they are still late even without late fees.
    Blockbuster culture was around punishing its customers (late fees, a major revenue source) and when they tried to ease up to be competitive, they felt obliged to still guilt the customer. This in turn just pushed more people away.

    We have Redbox which is still popular, that has late fees and all the trappings of the old Video Rentals. But they don't try to pretend they are Netflix. They push the availability of new releases. and convenience of being everywhere. Just because its marketing isn't around fighting the competition but just showcasing its strong points where it beats the competition.

    • So pre-streaming Netflix, you pay a monthly fee and get DVD in the mail, copy it with DVD Shrink and return them and you get the next movie on your queue.

      FTFY.

      I built a massive movie collection that way.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        Those of us with metered internet are still at it :-/

      • So pre-streaming Netflix, you pay a monthly fee and get DVD in the mail, copy it with DVD Shrink and return them and you get the next movie on your queue.

        FTFY.

        I built a massive movie collection that way.

        I used to do that, but I stopped. DVDs are cheap, and so are DVD or streaming rentals. I do make backups of DVDs I own with Aimersoft DVD Copier (I have a license for it.)

        • I exclusively copy DVDs I own as well - but just as with CDs the discs are the backup, while I watch the ripped versions much more conveniently all stored on the same hard drive.

          I briefly format-shifted to reduce space demands, but my collection is small enough that with the introduction of TB-scale drives I just store most things as .ISOs to avoid losing any more quality, and preserve the DVD menus and other disc features I sometimes use.

          • I exclusively copy DVDs I own as well - but just as with CDs the discs are the backup, while I watch the ripped versions much more conveniently all stored on the same hard drive.

            I briefly format-shifted to reduce space demands, but my collection is small enough that with the introduction of TB-scale drives I just store most things as .ISOs to avoid losing any more quality, and preserve the DVD menus and other disc features I sometimes use.

            https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org] Ah cool. Question, do you encounter problems with the volume/audio of the ripped output.

            I my DVDs to MPG and put them on a SSD, which then I plug on a smart TV for my kids to browse and watch.

            The only problem is that the resulting audio is low. My kids have to crank up the volume to halfway the dial to listen (so obviously when they switch back to a "normal" channel, the TV just blasts our eardrums.)

            • Nope. The reason I settled on .isos is that they are a perfect copy of the disc (minus copy protection). They take a *lot* more space, but the audio and video are *identical* to the original source (and DVDs don't really have a lot of quality to spare). If you have a media player that can handle them (I use VLC) they will be indistinguishable from playing the original DVD.

              You might want to investigate if your media player (dedicated hardware I assume?) has a separate volume adjustment. It could also jus

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        My brother used to pirate Playstation games too. Seemed to spend longer copying some of them than he did playing them. Blockbuster must have done okay out of it, at least until the Dreamcast came along and temporarily put a halt to it.

        Fortunately he got that magazine with the free demo of Action Replay on it, which happened to also let you play backups.

    • Netflix didn't kill blockbuster, but Blockbuster did a good job at hurting themselves.

      So pre-streaming Netflix, you pay a monthly fee and get DVD in the mail, watch them as long as you want and return them and you get the next movie on your queue. This did create competition with Blockbuster. However Blockbusters response when it got popular was insane. So the first part was getting rid of late fees on their videos, which seems like a perfectly normal response. But shortly after that they actually put on paid commercials, scolding people who haven't returned their videos saying you still need to return your videos because they are still late even without late fees. Blockbuster culture was around punishing its customers (late fees, a major revenue source) and when they tried to ease up to be competitive, they felt obliged to still guilt the customer. This in turn just pushed more people away.

      We have Redbox which is still popular, that has late fees and all the trappings of the old Video Rentals. But they don't try to pretend they are Netflix. They push the availability of new releases. and convenience of being everywhere. Just because its marketing isn't around fighting the competition but just showcasing its strong points where it beats the competition.

      Oh my God, so much this,

      I hated Blockbusters because of its policies. They were insane, a textbook case of a company taking a dump where it eats the moment it became a near monopoly. It was one reason why always tried to rent or buy videos from local competitors (until I finally gave up on that and started streaming or buying digital.)

      I love Redbox, but I haven't used its services since the pandemic started (we are a household of germphobes :/) Redbox is great, even with late fees, you know what the rul

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Reminds me of Burger King. There was a poster on the wall saying something like

      1 napkin - just in caser
      2 napkins - always prepared
      3 napkins - a messy eater
      4 napkins - a thief

      That restaurant is long gone now.

    • { ...Netflix didn't kill blockbuster, but Blockbuster did a good job at hurting themselves. ... } --- Similar to what Neflix is doing to their own DVD "service" nowadays. Too many DVDs have a "Very Long Wait" message when I put them into the queue. From my past experience, that usually means, something along the lines of, ~we have no intention of ever sending you this DVD, no matter how long you wait.~

    • Most don't know this but Blockbuster did try to ape Netflix's DVD via mail.

      https://www.wsj.com/articles/S... [wsj.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Netflix the modern incarnation of streaming service didn't kill Blockbuster. Netflix the disc rental service did.

      Blockbuster was a pay per movie service that billed you for everything - late fees and other fees such that it was difficult to actually pay the listed price.

      Netflix let you borrow X discs out at a time for as long as you want - the faster you got through the movies, the more you could rent. Even better, it was flat rate. And it was relatively cheap - even if all you did was borrow a couple of mo

  • They were stuck with their success (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mr D from 63 ( 3395377 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @10:02AM (#61147542)
    A lot of people will claim that Blockbuster was a failure that whiffed on mail order and streaming, but those models directly conflicted with the franchise model they had established. That franchise model was wildly successful for quite a long period. But there was no straightforward and fair way to allocate streaming or mail order revenues that didn't conflict with the territorial franchise ownership agreements, and enterprise ownership of such models would be direct competition with franchisees. Moves into mail order and/or streaming required agreement will their franchisees, many of whom were content to take their existing profits and ride out the old model as long as possible. Thus BB was inevitably in a slog with limited ability to make big changes.

    BB was a great success story, it made many franchisers a lot of money, but it was success story that had an end.

    • Re:They were stuck with their success (Score:4, Insightful)

      by iamhassi ( 659463 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @10:16AM (#61147594) Journal
      Blockbuster stores could have survived if blockbuster bought Netflix. The stores could have exclusives first, and streaming could get them months later. Also you could rent from the store without paying monthly, and monthly subscribers could get a discount on store rentals. And the monthly streaming prices would have probably been a little higher and blockbuster could have used that extra revenue to compensate franchise owners if blockbuster wanted to help franchise owners. As for late fees, with modern phones blockbuster could have used an app reminding people a video is late, and maybe lowering fees to 25-50 cents a day would have been more reasonable.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        lockbuster stores could have survived if blockbuster bought Netflix. The stores could have exclusives first, and streaming could get them months later.

        That would have only delayed the inevitable. Someone else would have found enough VC money to probably first do mail order right (new releases as soon as the studios would allow) and eventually to do first class streaming. Nobody would chose Blockbuster/Netflix where you either had to go to the store and deal with returns etc or wait for new releases when the competition was offering first class mail order and streaming. All that would have done is dragged Netflix down with Block Buster.

        used that extra revenue to compensate franchise owners if blockbuster wanted to help franchise owners

        That was also never

      • Possibly, but again, you can't just ignore the reasons why the act of buying Netflix was problematic given their franchise model. They had to have all franchisees agree before they could make such a change. Yes, there are complicated models that may have worked, but that's a mute point if they don't have a business model that supports the change to begin with.

        Franchisees made a lot of money for a long period of time. They were generally happy with how things worked out.

        • Would it though? My understanding is that franchisees typically have little to no say in what the main office does - they're basically private businesses that rent the use of the brand name for a cut of the profits and a promise to obey a long list of rules that ensure they deliver a predictable experience that preserves brand value.

          Buying Netflix might have screwed over the franchisees - but that only matters to the main office if it hurts the main office's profits. Though I suppose there might be terms

          • Franchise agreements include territorial ownership, so the parent company can't just start competing in a franchisees' territory. In territories that are not owned by franchisees, they could probably operate.
      • It's doubtful that video rental businesses could have survived. Exclusive content is a good way to have people select your service over (or alongside) competing ones, but it's not good enough to prop up what was pretty much a dying business model. Once streaming took off, people did not want to go to a physical store anymore to rent movies, even if browsing was a lot easier there.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Eventually someone would have made a successful streaming site, it was only a matter of time. They couldn't have bought them all.

    • If the franchisees were deadlocking them, they could have bought a small startup through a reverse merger so that Blockbuster would be a subsidiary of the new company. Then, their existing franchise agreements would not be in conflict if their new parent company started competing in the same market since the contracts are with the subsidiary. Yeah, it would be an awful thing to do - but not much worse than the franchisees dragging down the whole company.

      • I seriously doubt a court would agree that a subsidiary move would not directly conflict with Franchise contracts. It would be direct competition owned by the parent company.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by DarkOx ( 621550 )

          I was going to say the something, not being a lawyer and not having see the fancies agreements of course :-).

          I would be surprised if an agreement that prevented them from directly competing with franchises would not extend to investing, let alone taking a controlling interest in a competitor (a required step in the reverse merger process).

          On that note can we just acknowledge reverse mergers are inherently scam-y and don't really serve any real purpose other than to side step regulatory controls and contract

          • I can agree that reverse mergers are bad. But so is a franchise agreement that prevents your continued existence.

            I would be surprised if an agreement that prevented them from directly competing with franchises would not extend to investing, let alone taking a controlling interest in a competitor (a required step in the reverse merger process).

            It's not like the franchisees are writing the contract. It only has to look superficially like Blockbuster won't compete with them. Who is going to take the time to make sure it covers all these obscure scenarios?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by DarkOx ( 621550 )

              Well I did not go thru with it but I have looked into open a restaurant franchise before. Right you don't right the contract the parent company does but the prospective franchisee is about to plunk down a lot of money both in investment and on going franchise fees. The parent company has to make the contracts somewhat appealing because they are basically marketing themselves to the franchisees. You might decide for example to go start a Family Video franchise instead of a Block Buster franchise if you don't

    • Dude, Blockbuster mocked and laughed at Netflix execs when they suggested a purchase/partnership (which is exactly how BlockBuster could have entered a mail-delivery/streaming model. The rest is history.
      • And those franchisees that were laughing are all multi millionaires relaxing on a tropical island right now. I guess they were really stupid.

        • Yes they were.

          Life is more than stealing money and being a massive bore on an island afterwards. Like creating something bigger than oneself that actually lasts and improves the world.

          But hey, some people literally can only think in straw fires of money.

          • I don't think running popular business and profiting = 'stealing money'. But you are entitled to hold such ideals. Its irrelevant to this conversation though.
  • For those who still get them mailed to us?

    • I hope it's a one-part documentary and not drawn out over 5-10 episodes like so many Netflix documentaries. I've skipped many otherwise interesting topics because the documentaries Netflix makes of them are sparsely populated with actual content. At least they're finally rolling out the ability to watch videos at 1.5x speed.

  • Fark Blockbuster (Score:4, Informative)

    by VicVegas ( 990077 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @10:21AM (#61147620) Homepage

    and the "family friendly" horse it rode in on. They were a competitor of my family's regional chain of video rental locations and in the mid-80s they tried to pressure studios to give them access to new releases before any of their competitions. Thank goodness they failed in their attempts.

    Back then, it was the Wild West of VHS, as "new releases" included gobs of movies from decades earlier. When Disney would release an old-school cartoon movie on tape, it was quite the event! They resisted doing so for several years, but once they saw other studios enjoying that steady revenue stream, they joined the fray, but at a much higher retail price point and with slightly fancier and larger packaging. $79.95 for a VHS movie (in 1980s dollars) was nothing to sneeze at. It wasn't until Indiana Jones came out at $24.95 price point (and smashed all VHS sales records) that studios started releasing movies with lower prices.

    I could ramble about this stuff forever. Especially while drinking my morning coffee.

    • The $79.95 wasn't the consumer price. It was the price for rental stores, and they were supposed to buy a copy and rent it out dozens of times and make money from it. It wasn't really for people to buy. You could, if you wanted to - but why? When you could rent it for four bucks, what...were you going to watch it forty times? That's what you'd have to do to break even.

  • Netflix foolishly acknowleges the competition. "I had never heard of this!" their customers exclaim. A year from now, Blockbuster has made a roaring comeback and Netflix is on the ropes.

    If it happens, remember: I called it!

  • Seems like gloating (Score:3)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Thursday March 11, 2021 @10:41AM (#61147696)
    Yes, Netflix killed video rental business. So now you have hard time accessing new movies after theatrical release. It used to be that I could rent a movie within 90 days or so of theatrical run. To do the same now I would have to have accounts on million different platforms, pay MORE for a digital streaming version and so on. So in 2021 my access to blockbuster movies is less than it was in 2001.

    • So in 2021 my access to blockbuster movies is less than it was in 2001

      You can watch anything produced by Netflix Studios before they're available in theatres! (Or are you somehow claiming that Netflix hasn't created any "blockbusters"?)

      And you have neither Netflix nor Blockbuster to blame for not being able to watch everything on Netflix. Blame the studios who are greedily fracturing the market and trying to gross as much as they can for themselves, damn whatever consequences that brings.

      Hollywood has never been about profit, in reality. They will (and have, repeatedly) cut o

    • Yes, Netflix killed video rental business. So now you have hard time accessing new movies after theatrical release.

      In what way? If anything the ways you could access a new release has increased. Or do you mean post COVID where theatrical releases are not a thing right now? Let me take an example, Avenger's Infinity War. Cable Video On Demand, Redbox, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes. If it were released these days, Disney +. I am sure there are others.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sinij ( 911942 )

        Yes, my point was that the new releases now spread over multiple digital platforms and offered at different prices. I don't hear about them getting released anymore (because I am not actively tracking it). The end result is that I have a clear answer for a movie night at home in 2001 - go to blockbuster and pick new release to watch. I do not have such option today, often it is what is available on Netflix. Without good way to search it, because Netflix search is really awful.

    • Do My College Homework [slashdot.org] This is how our experts extend their assistance when you ask, “can someone do my homework for me?” Clarity over Appropriate Thesis Statement: Preparing
    • here did u come up with the information on this posting? I'm pleased I discovered it though, ill be checking back soon to find out what additional posts you include.

  • https://watchsouthpark.tv/epis... [watchsouthpark.tv]

    (Can't even find a link to the English video on the CC site due to geofencing. Thanks Comedy Central! You really "protected" the creators' income there!)

  • A theatrical release to the last Blockbuster first seems appropriate

  • Very confusing use of the word dropping. Releasing would be a better choice?
  • This documentary was released in 2020 (it's good and worth a watch). The news is just Netflix acquiring the rights to stream it. It's not a Netflix original or something they paid to produce.
  • Mark down a point for piracy.

  • From the nice video store on the corner, run by the little Korean lady who is a million years old and is so nice that she always gives you something free when you come in and makes you feel like the world's best customer. Yesterday it was a can of V8.
    I get my two movies, and return them 5 days later to ask how her grandchildren are doing. I think her husband, who owns the mailbox shop/real estate/notary business next door keeps her going so she has something to do.
    It's literally the only reason I still have

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