Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

RIP Blockbuster Video
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/en ... z2jsYCjEaR

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 3996821712

sometimes I hate the digital age.

Sadly, this was a long time coming.

But they will be missed.

Not surprising news here. A little personal for me because I once managed a Blockbuster store back in my younger days.

I was discussing this with the Mrs, and how were we going to explain to the little one the concept of video rental stores 5 or 10 years from now.

Biggest Blockbuster memories for me as a kid: renting Godzilla 1985 every time I was given the option to rent something for myself, and (in 1998) seeing Tristar's VHS releases of the Heisei films that I had no idea existed. Imagine seeing several Godzilla movies you've never heard of on the shelf!

Eh, def nostalgic for me. Just like many of you, I grew up with video stores. I actually rented a Sega Dreamcast from Blockbuster and that's how I decided I wanted that for Christmas one year. It's crazy that most movies and older game systems (via ROMs/Emulator) can now be found online. Most of the local places closed a few years ago, but one called West Coast Video always had Godzilla 1985 (my first Goji movie).

The first times I ever saw Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah were Blockbuster rentals. Probably a few others, too.

I think it's a shame that video rental stores in general have largely gone by the wayside, but I can't pretend I don't share responsibility for that. It's been YEARS since the last time I rented a movie from a video store... either 2007 or 2008. I actually tried to rent Star Trek Into Darkness from a local shop called Movie Time Video a couple months ago but they wouldn't let me unless I signed up for some kind of membership with them, so I just went and rented it from a Redbox kiosk instead.

When I was a kid, I frequented a mom-and-pop rental store called Video Express in Wichita Falls, Texas. I saw a lot of Godzilla movies for the first time thanks to that place. After moving to North Carolina in 1999, I rented movies from a lot of different places, and I can recall at least three of those small-time rental stores locally that went out of business years ago (A-1 Video, Movie Gallery, Premieres Video). Those mom-and-pop shops were forced to close while national brands like Blockbuster thrived, so I really can't say I'm sad to see this one-time giant suffer the same fate.

To be honest, I didn't realize there were even any Blockbuster outlets left. I certainly haven't seen any near where I live for a long, long time.

I think this episode of South Park is appropriate for this occasion: http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-ep ... -face-time

I'm gonna run a f*cking train on local stores as they attempt to clear inventory

It sucks it's going under but thats the cycle of things. I'm not attached to Blockbuster that much because we didn't get our Blockbuster until the early 2000s and it wasn't a very good store. The only national chain I miss was Hollywood Video such a great place and I knew a bunch of the people that worked there.

In the town I live in we have a mom and pop store but its small and I never go there and the other town that I live by we have one video rental chain left called Family video which I haven't been too in a year or so.

When mine closed down I got some extra copies of Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. Which reminds me of how many Sony Godzilla titles they carried...

SOME copies?
Why do you need more than one?

I find it funny that people will start grabbing stuff when it's only like 10% if you wait a week or two you can get upwards of 50% off. I worked at a Toys R Us that closed down and all our "big ticket" items sold with in a week. If it was me I would have waited until prices where like 50% off or more before picking up a video game console or big wheel power car.

Blockbuster bit the dust in Canada a couple years ago, so this news doesn't affect me quite as much. Still, it was through Blockbuster that I first saw many of the Godzilla movies, among other quality cinema. It's disappointing to hear that they couldn't hold out in America much longer.