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It's hard to think of a better escape from the current news cycle than a documentary about a store that's basically a living time capsule of the '90s.
The first trailer is here for The Last Blockbuster, a documentary about the video store's only remaining franchise left in the world, located in Bend, Ore.
The trailer includes interviews with director Kevin Smith, and comedian and former Portlander Ron Funches, plus Blockbuster's former CFO, Tom Casey, who seems unmoved by the documentary's underlying nostalgia: "Do I miss renting from a physical store? No, absolutely not. I don't think anyone does."
Bend's Blockbuster became the only remaining outpost of the bankrupt rental chain last year, following the closure of a store in Australia. It's since gained international attention, and even inspired a beer created by Bend brewery 10 Barrel.
Directed by Oregon filmmakers Taylor Morden and Zeke Kamm, the documentary focuses on general manager Sandi Harding and her efforts to keep the last vestige of the video empire alive.
When the final two Blockbusters in Alaska closed in 2018, making the Bend store the last left in America, Harding told WW she was surprised to have outlasted the other locations: "It's nothing that we didn't foresee coming. I just really thought that Alaska would hold out longer than we would."
The Last Blockbuster documentary—not to be confused with the satirical Last Blockbuster Twitter page—will be released later this year. It was initially scheduled to premiere May 8 at the Tower Theatre in Bend, but the event has been postponed until July due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Related: We Visited the Last Blockbuster in America. Here's What We Found.