I’m a frequent Redbox renter, an occasional library lendee, and a neo-Netflixer (as in, I wasn’t involved with their DVD by mail system, but now I stream from Netflix). Even with all these options, not to mention other sources like Hulu, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, SlingTV, etc, I sometimes reminisce about the days of old: walking into a Blockbuster or Movie Gallery, beelining to the wall of “New Releases,” or browsing the aisles of genre-specific titles, finding the one movie you were hoping was there, and having an entire menu of items to watch about that one movie (Redbox discs are usually stripped down to just the movie, no extras or behind the scenes).
Don’t get me wrong though; I love having Netflix, using Redbox, and borrowing from the library. But I just know there are movies I’ve been wanting to see that don’t exist in the little red kiosks, online, or on any local shelves. And unless you live in one of these 51 cities (mostly in Alaska and Texas), there are no Blockbusters in your town.
So how does one find those movies without buying them? Maybe there’ll be a resurgence of brick-and-mortar stores that offer movies we can’t watch any other way.
-Out of the Wilderness