88 Facts About Blockbuster Entertainment

1.

Blockbuster LLC, formerly known as Blockbuster Video, was an American-based provider of home movie and video game rental services.

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2.

At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster Entertainment consisted of 9,094 stores and employed approximately 84,300 people: 58,500 in the United States and 25,800 in other countries.

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3.

In 1990, Blockbuster Entertainment bought mid-Atlantic rival Erol's which had more than 250 stores.

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4.

In 1992, Blockbuster Entertainment acquired the Sound Warehouse and Music Plus music retail chains and created Blockbuster Entertainment Music.

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5.

In October 1993, Blockbuster took a controlling interest in Spelling Entertainment Group, a media company run by television producer Aaron Spelling.

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6.

Blockbuster Entertainment became a multibillion-dollar company, but Huizenga was worried about how new technology could threaten their business, such as video on demand and the growth of cable television.

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7.

Blockbuster Entertainment had the idea of a 2,500-acre Blockbuster sports and amusement park in Florida, something Blockbuster was still considering as late as August 1994.

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8.

In 1996, Blockbuster Entertainment Inc merged into a new Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation and the retail stores, then called Blockbuster Video, were renamed Blockbuster.

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9.

In November 1996 Blockbuster Entertainment confirmed that it was moving its headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Renaissance Tower in downtown Dallas.

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10.

Blockbuster Entertainment had offered various relocation packages to all of its Fort Lauderdale staff.

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11.

Blockbuster Entertainment was to have rights to rent new DVD releases for a period of time before they went on sale to the general public.

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12.

Blockbuster Entertainment turned the offer down, and the studio responded by lowering its DVD wholesale price in order to compete with the rental industry.

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13.

In 1998, Blockbuster Entertainment created DEJ Productions, which acquired 225 films primarily to provide exclusive content to its Blockbuster Entertainment stores prior to being sold off to First Look Studios in 2005.

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14.

In 2009, Blockbuster Entertainment sold off its Irish operations to Birchall Investments, with the few Xtra-vision stores in the UK being rebranded as Blockbuster Entertainment.

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15.

Also in 2000, Blockbuster Entertainment turned down a chance to purchase the fledgling Netflix for $50 million.

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16.

In 2002, Blockbuster Entertainment acquired Movie Trading Company, a Dallas chain that buys, sells, and trades movies and games, to study potential business models for DVD and game trading.

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17.

Blockbuster Entertainment rolled out its "Game Rush" store-in-store concept to approximately 450 domestic company-operated stores.

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18.

In December 2004, Blockbuster Entertainment announced its intention to pursue a hostile takeover of Hollywood Video, its major US competitor.

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19.

Icahn accused Blockbuster of overpaying chairman and CEO John F Antioco, who had served in that capacity since 1997, receiving $51.

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20.

Also in 2005, Blockbuster Entertainment began a campaign promoting its "No more late fees" policy.

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21.

Blockbuster Entertainment later settled the suit by agreeing to refunds, as well as promising to better explain the policy.

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22.

On June 19,2007, after a pilot program launched in late 2006, Blockbuster Entertainment announced that it had chosen Blu-ray over HD DVD format to rent in a majority of its stores.

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23.

Blockbuster Entertainment stocked Blu-ray titles in almost 5,000 stores across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Australia.

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24.

Blockbuster Entertainment introduced a new business strategy that included enhancements to existing stores.

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25.

At the beginning of 2010, Blockbuster Entertainment had over 6,500 stores, of which 4,000 were in the US — a number that fell to 3,425 in late October the same year.

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26.

On February 10,2010, Blockbuster Entertainment announced that it would cease all its operations in Portugal, closing down 17 outlets and leaving over 100 workers unemployed.

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27.

In March 2010, Blockbuster Entertainment began "Additional Daily Rates", or "ADRs", for rentals not returned by their due date in the United States, having already used this procedure in other countries such as the UK for many years.

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28.

On March 12,2010, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Blockbuster Entertainment's independent registered public accounting firm, issued its audit opinion disclosing substantial doubt about Blockbuster Entertainment's ability to continue as a going concern.

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29.

On March 17,2010, Blockbuster Entertainment issued a bankruptcy warning after continued drops in revenue threatened its ability to service its nearly $1 billion debt load.

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30.

Blockbuster Entertainment hired Jeff Stegenga to be its chief restructuring officer in an effort to satisfy bondholder demands and recapitalize the company.

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31.

Blockbuster Entertainment was replaced by Dennis McGill, formerly CFO of Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc On September 23,2010, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to challenging losses, $900 million in debt, and strong competition from Netflix, Redbox, and video on-demand services.

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32.

At the time of its Chapter 11 filing, Blockbuster Entertainment said it would keep its 3,300 stores open; however, that December it announced it would close an additional 182 stores by the end of April 2011 in attempts to emerge from bankruptcy.

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33.

Blockbuster Entertainment admitted that it might not be able to meet financial obligations required under its Chapter 11 filing, a circumstance which could mandate conversion of the bankruptcy filing to Chapter 7.

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34.

On March 1,2011, the US Department of Justice filed a claim disclosing that Blockbuster Entertainment did not have the funds to continue reorganizing and should liquidate.

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35.

On January 16,2013, Blockbuster Entertainment UK entered into administration and Deloitte was appointed to run the business while trying to find a buyer while some of the stores remained open.

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36.

Blockbuster Entertainment's decline was attributed to poor leadership according to others in the industry.

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37.

Sumner Redstone, whose Viacom conglomerate then owned Blockbuster Entertainment, personally pioneered a new revenue-sharing arrangement for video in the mid-1980s.

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38.

Blockbuster Entertainment stores followed a strategy of emphasizing access to the most popular new releases, obtaining early access and stocking many copies of the new-release titles, with a relatively smaller depth of selection than traditional independent video stores.

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39.

Blockbuster Entertainment sometimes contracted with studios to obtain earlier access to new titles than other companies could achieve.

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40.

Since Blockbuster Entertainment's founding in 1985, the chain refused to stock adult films in order to portray the brand as family-friendly.

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41.

Blockbuster Entertainment Inc ran an awards show annually from 1995 to 2001 called the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.

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42.

In November 2001, Blockbuster Entertainment announced that it would cancel the 2002 award show following concerns about viewership and celebrity attendance after the September 11 attacks.

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43.

Blockbuster Entertainment Express was a movie-rental kiosk brand sublicensed for use by licensee NCR Corporation.

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44.

In 2004, Blockbuster Entertainment opened store-within-a-store video game rental and sales stores called GameRush inside Blockbuster Entertainment locations in limited markets.

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45.

Blockbuster Entertainment acquired Rhino Video Games, a chain of video game stores in the Southwest, and renamed them Game Rush.

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46.

Blockbuster Entertainment used its location status to get instant coverage; it promoted these stores by hosting video-game tournaments, special trade-in offers, and a more 'hip' look to the selection and staff.

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47.

However, when Blockbuster Entertainment introduced the discontinuation of late fees, GameRush was put on the chopping block.

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48.

In 1993, Blockbuster Entertainment invested in the indoor kids' play restaurant Discovery Zone.

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49.

In 1992, the Virgin Group and Blockbuster Entertainment Inc entered into a joint venture to set up Australia's first Virgin Megastores in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide.

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50.

In July 1998, Blockbuster Entertainment Australia launched into franchising with the conversion of the former Video Flicks franchise group in Queensland, and the former Movieland group in Western Australia six months later.

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51.

In February 2007, Blockbuster Entertainment sold its entire Australian store network to Video Ezy.

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52.

At the time, Blockbuster Entertainment Australia comprised 370 outlets nationwide—29 owned by the company and 341 owned by franchisees.

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53.

However, since the two brands came together, the network has shrunk, reflected in Video Ezy and Blockbuster Entertainment franchises closing 270 stores across Australia in the four years to August 2011.

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54.

Blockbuster Entertainment was the largest video rental chain in the country, but finances were not good enough due to high rental prices.

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55.

In January 2007, when Blockbuster Entertainment had 127 stores across Brazil, it sold its Brazilian stake for $87.

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56.

In Canada, Blockbuster Entertainment Canada had operated independently, and it initially remained financially stable.

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57.

Blockbuster Entertainment had acted as a guarantor towards Blockbuster's remaining debt.

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58.

Blockbuster Entertainment came to Denmark in 1996 with the acquisition of the 29 Christianshavn video stores.

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59.

Several Smart TVs have the Blockbuster Entertainment app pre-installed out-of-the-box, and it is available on a variety of streaming devices such as Google's Chromecast.

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60.

Blockbuster Entertainment opened 20 stores in Berlin and Munich and announced plans to open 250 more.

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61.

Blockbuster Entertainment re-opened 15 of 38 former KPS stores by February 16,1998, and re-employed 145 former KPS staff.

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62.

Blockbuster Entertainment pulled out of the market in 2004 after high operating costs and losses to copyright infringement.

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63.

In March 2010, Blockbuster Entertainment announced that it intended to sell all operations in Europe.

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64.

Blockbuster Entertainment once had an Irish subsidiary, Xtravision, which did not operate under the Blockbuster brand name.

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65.

Blockbuster Entertainment sold Xtravision at a loss in August 2009 to Birchhall Investments Limited.

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66.

In December 2011, Blockbuster Entertainment closed off its last branch store, and had only 80 automated video rentals left.

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67.

In March 1991, Fujita Den Trading and Blockbuster Entertainment Inc entered into a joint venture to establish Japan's first Blockbuster Entertainment Video stores.

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68.

Blockbuster Entertainment Japan faced heavy competition from Osaka-based video rental chain, Tsutaya, with its 817 outlets, but the company saw opportunity in the population having high VCR ownership levels, low satellite TV penetration, and well-ordered store layouts.

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69.

All of which meant Blockbuster Entertainment was unable to fit adequately into the Japanese market, and was immediately put at a disadvantage compared to competitors that had no such ethical stance.

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70.

Blockbuster Entertainment handed its remaining shares over to Fujita Den Trading in 1999, and exited the Japanese market.

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71.

In December 2002 the first Blockbuster Entertainment store opened in Norway, and was followed by another store some months later in 2003, both located in Oslo.

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72.

In 2007, Blockbuster Entertainment announced that it plans to shut down its stores in Peru due to poor revenues, which it blamed on the effect of movie piracy.

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73.

Blockbuster Entertainment had already closed down its stores in Ecuador, Portugal and Costa Rica.

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74.

The first re-branded Blockbuster Entertainment outlet opened on Walworth Road, South London, the same year.

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75.

Blockbuster Entertainment UK operated trade functions in all their stores, buying and selling pre-owned DVDs, console games, and gaming accessories.

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76.

On January 16,2013, Blockbuster Entertainment placed its United Kingdom subsidiaries in administration, putting over 4,000 jobs at risk.

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77.

On October 29,2013, Blockbuster Entertainment UK announced it was to go into administration for a second time.

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78.

In September 2018, to coincide with the digital release of Deadpool 2, a pop-up retail store in the style of an original 1989 Blockbuster Entertainment outlet was opened for two days in Shoreditch in East London.

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79.

In January 2006, Blockbuster Entertainment Brazil introduced an online rental service now featuring both DVD and Blu-ray plans.

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80.

Blockbuster Entertainment UK aired a monthly BB Insider online video show from May 2010 to January 2011 and launched an iPhone App in September 2010.

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81.

In May 2012, Blockbuster Entertainment UK partnered with IGN to launch a new Blockbuster Entertainment VIP Gamer loyalty program.

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82.

On January 16,2013, Blockbuster Entertainment UK entered administration, appointing Deloitte as company administrators, casting doubt over the future of their 528 stores in the country.

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83.

In 2001, Enron and Blockbuster Entertainment Inc attempted to create a 20-year deal to stream movies on demand over Enron's fiber optic network.

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84.

Blockbuster Entertainment's move to follow the business pattern with its online rentals as was established by Netflix prompted Netflix to sue Blockbuster Entertainment for patent infringement.

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85.

Blockbuster Entertainment counter sued with a counterclaim alleging deceptive practices with its patent which it alleged was designed to maintain an illegal monopoly.

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86.

Until July 26,2007, Blockbuster Entertainment offered and advertised unlimited free in-store exchanges of online rentals with all plans.

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87.

In 2005, Blockbuster Entertainment launched a marketing campaign describing changes in its late fees policy and offering "No Late Fees" on rentals.

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88.

Blockbuster Entertainment reintroduced late fees in the United States in 2010 under the name of "Additional Daily Rates".

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