Blockbuster's last rental ever: "This is the End"
"This Is The End" in more ways than one.
After a nearly 30-year run, the Blockbuster corporation officially rented out its final movie ever.
On Monday, the now-defunct video chain posted a picture on its Twitter account capturing the last rental, which took place in Hawaii on Friday night at 11 p.m. local time.
Aptly, the final rental was the Seth Rogen apocalyptic comedy This is the End":
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The last BLOCKBUSTER rental 11/9 Hawaii 11PM <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisIsTheEnd">@ThisIsTheEnd</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlockbusterMemories&src=hash">#BlockbusterMemories</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Sethrogen">@Sethrogen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesFrancoTV">@JamesFrancoTV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JonahHill">@JonahHill</a> <a href="http://t.co/RsXABlqfzL">http://t.co/RsXABlqfzL</a></p>— Blockbuster (@blockbuster) <a href="https://twitter.com/blockbuster/statuses/399933729906638848">November 11, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Rogen himself was a big fan of Blockbuster, growing up in the days before online streaming services, and he took to his Twitter account to mark the bittersweet occasion:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The last movie ever rented from a blockbuster was this is the end. In high school I would go hang out at blockbuster every day.</p>— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sethrogen/statuses/400013696115965952">November 11, 2013</a></blockquote></p>
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Launched in 1985, Blockbuster quickly caught on with millions of home viewers, first with VHS rentals (who can forget "be kind, rewind") before moving on to DVDs in the late '90s/early 2000s. Video games also proved a big seller, with selections offered on every major console since the original Nintendo. At the height of its popularity in 2004, there were over 9,000 Blockbuster locations. But the rental chain was unable to keep up with newer home viewing alternatives like Netflix and video on demand.
After it was announced earlier this month that the company's remaining 300 stores were to be shut down, a wave of nostalgia set in for generations of viewers who either grew up or raised their kids renting videos at the once-ubiquitous chain.
The folks over at Slate put together a montage of classic Blockbuster commercials as a fond farewell:
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