By offering “Free Blockbuster” movies to her neighbors, a California woman is bringing back happy memories of Blockbuster Video.
A “Little Free Library” is a nonprofit book-sharing program where individuals donate and check out books. This is a spin on that concept. The concept behind “Free Blockbuster” is the same, but the box is packed with movies and has Blockbuster’s iconic blue and yellow paint job.
Alyssa Kollgaard, a Los Angeles-based video game developer, wanted to use a sentimental and artistic project to share her love of movies.
For the past two years, Kollgaard has been operating a free food pantry outside her house. She informed Fox News Digital that she had an extra box that could be used as a Blockbuster box.
Christian Kollgaard, her spouse, is a skilled film and television fabricator, and he assisted her in creating the ideal collection of blue and yellow films.
There are DVDs inside the “Free Blockbuster” boxes. According to Kollgaard, she can also “rent out” VHS tapes, but they can’t stay in the box because the heat in California would cause them to melt.
Kollgaard has spent the last ten years adding to her vast collection of movies. “Wasteland Weekend,” a film festival, is even managed by her and her spouse, she claimed.
35 years later, Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” CD is brought back to the Maryland Library.
Kollgaard emphasized how the rise of streaming services was a factor in the demise of the DVD and the loss of the “in-person experience of browsing” video library.
“There is definitely a lot of nostalgia around the Blockbuster and I think, visually, the branding is really strong,” Kollgaard stated.
Established in 1985, Blockbuster Video was an American chain of video rental stores. There were roughly 9,000 locations around the nation, but Blockbuster closed its doors in 2014 due to the increasing popularity of streaming and mail-in DVDs, which rendered physical movie rentals obsolete.
In Bend, Oregon, there is still one Blockbuster open for business. Private ownership owns the store.
According to Kollgaard, her Blockbuster box is assisting those who may find streaming to be too much for them.
