In the years before Netflix, Redbox, iTunes, Hulu, and Amazon Instant, finding and viewing movies and television shows was an event, something that people planned their day or even weekend around. For years, the most convenient way, and for many people the only way, to find and watch a film was to head down to the local Blockbuster and rent the film for a period of time. An entire system was set up to establish rental times and late fees for movies not returned on time. If you knew that you wanted to watch a film, you drove down to Blockbuster, rented the film, maybe picked up some snacks, and drove the movie or movies home. You had to keep track of the film, and make sure that you returned it to the store before the rental time was up. It was an entirely different form of media access than people are used to today.
With services today such as Netflix, consumers can find hundreds of films instantly to watch without leaving their homes or paying any late fees. Blockbuster struggled to stay relevant the last few years, but it was clear that driving to a store for a physical copy of a handful of films was outdated, and people have already adapted to a culture of immediate and almost complete access of media. Blockbuster recently closed its last three hundred stores, thus ending an era of physical media. For years Blockbuster sat at the top of film and television for the masses, but today its doors are closed.