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Someone built a website that turns your entire streaming library into a virtual 3D Blockbuster store
Physical media — movies, albums, video games, etc. — is on the rise among Gen Z and pop culture consumers, in general. If you aren’t quite ready to commit to a physical media collection, though, you can still get some of the nostalgia it provides from Bingebuster.net, a virtual Blockbuster store that lets you browse your streaming libraries in 3D.
Bingebuster.net links to your streaming accounts — Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, etc. — and turns them into a navigable virtual video store with a classic Blockbuster aesthetic.
Someone built a website that turns your entire streaming library into a virtual 3D Blockbuster store
bingebuster.net
The website — which allows users to stroll the shelves through point-and-click navigation — features shelves of movie posters organized into genre sections, new releases, and country-specific filters. The sections include New Releases, Foreign, Documentary, Romance, Horror, Comedy, Family, Cult Classics, Drama, Action, Sci-Fi, Classics, and Staff Picks.
When you click on a title, a menu expands that presents it in physical media packaging alongside the synopsis, runtime, a YouTube trailer link, and a direct link to watch it on whatever streaming service its available on.
As for its creator, there is a button on the website that takes you to a donation page for an ‘Oli Evans’, who has also built a virtual walk-in Criterion Closet (“The Closet”) and a website that aggregates every album review that Pitchfork has published (“The Fork”).
There is famously one Blockbuster left in the world, and it’s located in Bend, Oregon. While the store is independently owned, it’s been the only retail store in the world to use the Blockbuster brand since 2019.
According to its proprietors, an estimated that about 80% of the store’s income comes from selling merchandise. While the store does still rent DVD/blu-rays, because the majority of the vendors that provided them with movies are now closed — and the ones that remain in business have minimum orders that are too large for a store of that size — all of their new selections come from Walmart and Target, while their snacks and candy are purchased at Costco.