Blockbuster's Final Rental: "This Is The End"
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - After dominating the home video rental market for decades, Blockbuster announced earlier this month that the company would be closing its 300 remaining stores nationwide. The locations are all set to be shuttered for good by the end of January. But the first step in the closures began last week, as Blockbuster rented out its final movie.
And it was a fitting title indeed.
According to a message posted on the chain's Twitter account, a customer in Hawaii rented the last Blockbuster movie ever on Saturday night at 11:00 p.m. local time. He picked up Seth Rogen's apocalypse comedy "This Is the End," which was released into theaters earlier this year.
The news about Blockbuster's final days was met with fond memories from previous customers, along with snarky comments from film lovers who long since abandoned the chain in favor of newer video delivery services like Netflix and Apple TV. Shifts in technology and viewing habits ultimately buried the in-store rental business model.
Rogen responded to the historic news, also on Twitter, with a Blockbuster memory of his own. "In high school," he tweeted, "I would go hang out at Blockbuster every day."
The first Blockbuster store opened in 1985 in Dallas, and the company remained in North Texas until it was purchased by Dish Network in bankruptcy court in 2011. Dish Network plans to continue using the Blockbuster name for its video-on-demand services.
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