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So by now I’m sure that you have heard of the new drug that is taking over suburbia as we know it. It is luring in 30 something couples one household at a time, with its cheap price and availability. It goes by many names including: The Red Devil, $1 holler, dinner and a dousey, and of course DVD meth. I am talking about the phenomenon we know as “redbox”.
I have been oblivious to this in recent months, due to my Netflix and Blockbuster accounts. I recently overheard my mom and a coworker talking about it. I thought it was some new foot cream or something from a sleazy romance novel. Little did I know that this rotting apple is taking over the neighborhood on Friday nights? Last week after work I was driving past the local Walgreens and saw that there was a line around the corner, and not for something inside the actual store. My first assumption was that they were handing out Free H1N1 shots! Later in the evening I went to the local grocery store only to see the same sight. After a little investigating I learned that this was redbox! The thing that everyone was talking about.
The game plan is simple they place Rental Kiosks in convenient locations all over the country and offer affordable DVDs, with the most popular titles. They are doing a damn good job of it too. The Entertainment Merchants Association listed the company as the 5th largest DVD sales company in the US. The company founded in 2003 is a subsidiary of Coinstar inc. modeled after the same kiosk idea. It wasn’t until 2005 that the DVD rental kiosk idea and design really started to take off. When at a few 100 McDonalds’ locations in the Denver area started carrying the brand. Apparently people went completely apeshit over the machines. So much so that due to growing concern that DVD kiosks may cannibalize DVD sales and rentals, three major movie studios( 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, and Universal) refused to sell DVDs to Redbox until at least 28 days after their arrival in stores. Redbox responded by filing an antitrust lawsuit against the Studios and an online campaign to follow.
So what does all of this mean? The days of bullshitting with your local tattooed metal head behind the counter of the local blockbuster are numbered. Only the truly satanic paring of Fast-food franchises and DVDs could do so well in an economic recession. My only hope is that these mouth breathing window lickers have absolutely no taste. I’m sure they are probably looking for titles like the Proposal and Escape to Witch Mountain, and I can only hope bring it on 2. It is things like this that make it hard for me to sleep at night. The plus side of this is that I can Perouse the aisles of the Movies store without annoying kids clinging on to their parents for the new Shrek title. The rest of us indie buffs will be able to frolic in the void left by these morons at our favorite video stores. With a selection of nothing but the best of the best left over for us to feed upon. Muahahaha
More to follow
I have been oblivious to this in recent months, due to my Netflix and Blockbuster accounts. I recently overheard my mom and a coworker talking about it. I thought it was some new foot cream or something from a sleazy romance novel. Little did I know that this rotting apple is taking over the neighborhood on Friday nights? Last week after work I was driving past the local Walgreens and saw that there was a line around the corner, and not for something inside the actual store. My first assumption was that they were handing out Free H1N1 shots! Later in the evening I went to the local grocery store only to see the same sight. After a little investigating I learned that this was redbox! The thing that everyone was talking about.
The game plan is simple they place Rental Kiosks in convenient locations all over the country and offer affordable DVDs, with the most popular titles. They are doing a damn good job of it too. The Entertainment Merchants Association listed the company as the 5th largest DVD sales company in the US. The company founded in 2003 is a subsidiary of Coinstar inc. modeled after the same kiosk idea. It wasn’t until 2005 that the DVD rental kiosk idea and design really started to take off. When at a few 100 McDonalds’ locations in the Denver area started carrying the brand. Apparently people went completely apeshit over the machines. So much so that due to growing concern that DVD kiosks may cannibalize DVD sales and rentals, three major movie studios( 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, and Universal) refused to sell DVDs to Redbox until at least 28 days after their arrival in stores. Redbox responded by filing an antitrust lawsuit against the Studios and an online campaign to follow.
So what does all of this mean? The days of bullshitting with your local tattooed metal head behind the counter of the local blockbuster are numbered. Only the truly satanic paring of Fast-food franchises and DVDs could do so well in an economic recession. My only hope is that these mouth breathing window lickers have absolutely no taste. I’m sure they are probably looking for titles like the Proposal and Escape to Witch Mountain, and I can only hope bring it on 2. It is things like this that make it hard for me to sleep at night. The plus side of this is that I can Perouse the aisles of the Movies store without annoying kids clinging on to their parents for the new Shrek title. The rest of us indie buffs will be able to frolic in the void left by these morons at our favorite video stores. With a selection of nothing but the best of the best left over for us to feed upon. Muahahaha
More to follow
Right on Dan! LOL!
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