
This June, Establishing Shot will feature a miniseries we’re calling Here’s Looking at You, 2002 as we take a look back at films celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Today, Laura Ivins makes us nostalgic as she reminisces about the rise of the DVD and the charms of the video store.
In 2002, the DVD format overtook VHS. DVDs had been introduced five years earlier and experienced rapid adoption among the home-viewing market. Outlets like Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, and independent video stores were phasing out their VHS stock and shifting fully to DVDs. Even though about 60 million more U.S. homes had VCRs than DVD players at this point, DVD sales far outpaced VHS in all categories except children’s entertainment.
In 2002, my boyfriend and I lived in an apartment complex that was next door to a Blockbuster. This was Blockbuster’s peak, with over 5,000 stores in operation in the U.S. and Netflix streaming still five years away. (more…)