The Death Rattle of Blockbuster

December 22, 2009 in Culturally Relevant with 2 Comments

I remember my first experience renting a video from our local Blockbuster.

The excitement of peddling my bike as fast as I could, hoping that the movie I wanted (Teen Wolf Too) would be on the shelf.
The sense of satisfaction I got by triumphantly returning home and inserting the tape into our family VCR.
Watching Jason Bateman conquer his foes in the boxing ring as a half-boy, half-werewolf teen hero.
It was pure movie bliss.

Today I got this in my inbox:

I thought to myself, “It’s been a good run, Blockbuster. You’ll be bankrupt soon. So long.” It’s almost as if you can hear the BB executives saying, “PLEASE rent from us, please! We have shareholders to please! For crying out loud, just take a movie and give us whatever you feel like on your way out!”

Do you sense the desperation in this email? I can. Turns out I’m not the only one. Business Insider listed Blockbuster as one of the brands that won’t be around at the close of 2010. Sadly, I agree with them.

As the article points out, Blockbuster has lost their chance to be a formidable player in the new era of media distribution. Lack of innovation, old business models and plain being outplayed by the competition (Netflix, Redbox, Hulu, etc.) will make Blockbuster fade into the media peddling background.

This, of course, begs the question, What other brands won’t be around this time next year?

I have my own suspicions, but I’d like to hear what you think.

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2 Responses to “The Death Rattle of Blockbuster”

  1. @kylelreed December 23, 2009 at 2:01 pm #

    I think at the end of 2010 we will start to see facebook taking the nose dive that myspace took.
    Not as bad but the decline will be in effect.

  2. @kylelreed December 23, 2009 at 8:01 pm #

    I think at the end of 2010 we will start to see facebook taking the nose dive that myspace took.
    Not as bad but the decline will be in effect.