80 Facts About Blockbuster Video

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

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

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

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

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

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Blockbuster Video 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.

Original Blockbuster company, Blockbuster Video Inc, was merged into the parent company Blockbuster Entertainment Inc which had earlier replaced the Blockbuster Entertainment Company.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 2002, Blockbuster Video 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At the beginning of 2010, Blockbuster Video 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.

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

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In March 2010, Blockbuster Video 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.

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

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

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

Blockbuster Video 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.

At the time of its Chapter 11 filing, Blockbuster Video 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.

Blockbuster Video 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.

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

Blockbuster Video signed a deal with ITV Studios Global Entertainment to launch ITV Programmes released on DVDs, Blu-rays, etc.

On January 16,2013, Blockbuster Video 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Names Blockbuster Express and Blockbuster Video Express had been used for smaller Blockbuster retail stores in the United Kingdom.

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

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

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

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

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In 1994, Australian store numbers rose to 54 with the acquisition of Major Blockbuster Video and Focus chains in both Victoria and South Australia.

In July 1998, Blockbuster 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All of which meant Blockbuster Video 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.

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

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

In 2007, Blockbuster Video 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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Blockbuster Video had already closed down its stores in Ecuador, Portugal and Costa Rica.

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

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

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

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

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 Video outlet was opened for two days in Shoreditch in East London.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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