Blockbuster Video Commercial 1995

Blockbuster Video was a prominent video rental chain that originated in 1985 as a single home video rental shop, founded by David Cook in Dallas, Texas.
It quickly expanded into a major retail chain, offering video game rentals, DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theaters. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster employed 84,300 people worldwide and operated 9,094 stores.
However, the company faced significant challenges due to poor leadership, the impact of the Great Recession, and increasing competition from services like Netflix, Redbox, and other digital streaming platforms.

Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010, and by 2014, the last 300 company-owned stores were closed.
Despite this, some franchise locations remained open, with the last remaining Blockbuster store located in Bend, Oregon.
This store, which opened in 1992 as Pacific Video and converted to a Blockbuster franchise in 2000, continues to operate as a nostalgic reminder of the video rental era.

In addition to its retail operations, Blockbuster also had a presence in other countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Brazil, and Japan, though many of these international operations eventually closed or were rebranded.
As of 2025, the Blockbuster brand is still in existence under the name BB Liquidating, Inc., which gained attention during the GameStop short squeeze in 2021.

Recently, there have been reports of a Blockbuster media merger involving the Skydance/Paramount partnership, indicating potential future developments for the brand.