Netflix has offered up a first look at its Blockbuster sitcom. The streaming service provided fans with the first trailer for the series, which will take place in the last remaining Blockbuster video store.
Blockbuster was a famed franchise of video rental stores that was founded in 1985, and the company is a source of nostalgia for many. The advent of streaming helped shutter the company, however. Ironically, it was its failure to buy Netflix itself that proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the company. By 2018, the once-nationwide chain had only one Blockbuster store left, with its last store located in Bend, Oregon. Netflix eventually announced that it was working on a workplace comedy, titled Blockbuster, based on this final Blockbuster store.
Netflix dropped the trailer for Blockbuster, with a Tweet from the streamer reading, "Welcome to the last Blockbuster on Earth. From the writers of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Superstore and the creator of Happy Endings comes Blockbuster, a new comedy starring Randall Park and Melissa Fumero. Premieres November 3," read the tweet. The series will star Park as Timmy Yoon, the manager of the last Blockbuster store, alongside an ensemble cast that includes Fumero, Tyler Alvarez, Madeleine Arthur, and Olga Merediz.
The Blockbuster trailer reveals that film will be an important thematic element and point of humor for the series. Alvarez, who plays Carlos Herrera, seems particularly important. It's his dream to be a filmmaker, and he reasons that he has to work at a video store "like Quentin Tarantino" to achieve that goal. The emotional beats of the story also seem to be Timmy struggling to keep the store afloat even as the other Blockbusters go under, and his apparent crush on co-worker Eliza (Fumero).
It's the ultimate irony, and a bit meta, that Netflix is making this comedy. Netflix has no end of new movies, shows, and originals joining its ranks, while Blockbuster is mostly a nostalgic memory. In addition to Blockbuster failing to buy Netflix for $50 million (far less than it is worth now), founder Reed Hastings partially credits Blockbuster with his founding of Netflix. The story goes that part of the reason Hastings created Netflix was because he was tired of paying Blockbuster's notorious late fees on his films (an amount that Hastings says was about $40).
With hits like Stranger Things, Squid Game, and countless others under its belt, Netflix is safe for the secure future (though there are rumblings about its fate). Blockbuster's last location appears to be mostly a curiosity, a Mecca for those who want to bask in the nostalgia of days gone by. But at least the Blockbuster legacy will live on in this new series.
Blockbuster premieres November 3, 2022, on Netflix.
Source: Netflix/Twitter