Voting Station

Blockbuster

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Corporation

The Resume

    (October 19, 1985-November 7, 2013)
    Blockbuster Video Entertainment, Inc.
    Home video rental provider
    Founded by Texas oil magnate David Cook
    Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado; originally in Dallas, Texas
    Later expanded into DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theater
    Employed over 60,000 workers at its peak; maintained over 9,000 franchise stores by 2004
    Lost significant market shares to new competitors such as Netflix and RedBox
    Filed for bankruptcy protection (Sept. 23, 2010)
    Purchased in a corporate acquisition by Dish Network (Apr. 2011); resulted in the closing of nearly 1,000 store locations by Dish between 2011 and 2013

Why Blockbuster might be annoying:

    It only allowed for three-day rentals of their products.
    It was parodied in a series of badly written and unfunny 'Amanda Show' skits ('Blockblister').
    It passed on purchasing the fledgling Netflix company for a mere $50 Million.
    They stamped all VHS cassettes with the 'please rewind' label (which we all ignored).
    Friday-night/Weekend check-out lines were tedious enough to make lines at the bank and post office look quick by comparison.
    They hosted a consumer-based popularity contest designed as an alternative to the Academy Awards (The Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Show). The event's tendency to award critically-panned performers multiple times in the same night often struck even the show's winners as bizarre.
    Stores tended to close before customers could return their movies, resulting in their being slapped with exorbitant late fees.
    Netflix exploited people's intense dislike of this aspect brilliantly, advertising the 'No Late Fees' factor in all commercials.
    Corporate execs later tried to save face by making a big show out of ending their 'late fees' policy. Lawsuits sprang up in almost every state calling for reimbursements for past charges.
    They were initially successful in their attempt at copying Netflix's offering of DVD-by-Mail/Live Streaming services, but they couldn't recover from their revenue losses and died a quiet death within five years.

Why Blockbuster might not be annoying:

    Stores tended to serve as local hangouts for school-kids.
    Many derived enjoyment out of 'browsing' through the shelves to make a selection (long before 'binge-watching' was an option).
    Locations didn't stock or distribute hard-core pornography (which gave smaller local stores a foothold above the corporate giant).
    It won a court case against Nintendo of America, Inc, paving the way for the rental of video games (1987).
    A 'Blockbuster Block Party' (an 'entertainment complex' with restaurants, a laser tag arena, and motion simulator rides) was test-marketed as a concept in at least two states (1994).
    Stores were customized by neighborhood - loaded with films geared toward specific demographic profiles (in addition to popular new releases); an innovation at the time.
    Its award show generated an at-the-time record level of public interest; in its first three years garnering well over an unprecedented 11 million votes (it was ended in 2001 over post-9/11 programming disputes).
    A memorable series of commercials with James Woods and Jim Belushi as a pet rabbit and guinea pig (Karl & Ray) aired during the 2002 and 2007 Super Bowls.
    Consumers tended to prefer the Blockbuster DVD-by-Mail service over Netflix's.
    Its last video rental was (appropriately) the James Franco/Jonah Hill movie 'This Is The End,' rented out of a Hawaii-based store at 11PM.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 6 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 23 Votes: 26.09% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 17 Votes: 29.41% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 25 Votes: 52.00% Annoying