Tampa Bay Comic Con Will Include A Blockbuster Video Experience
One of the popular ’90s brands that is full of nostalgia will soon provide a weekend of memories in Florida. As part of this summer’s Tampa Bay Comic Con there will be the Blockbuster Video Experience.
“The Blockbuster experience offers everything you remember about going to Blockbuster Video and more! We have 10,000 DVDs and VHS to rent FOREVER, Original The Last Blockbuster merch, movie props, photo ops, and, most importantly, that Blockbuster smell,” the Tampa Bay Comic Convention states.
If you are unaware, there is still one Blockbuster Video store that remains open (it’s in Oregon). The General Manager of that store, Sandi Harding will be participating at the Tampa experience in an attempt to bring the store to you. You may remember Harding from The Last Blockbuster documentary.
The Blockbuster Experience has planned to bring a few stars you may remember to their convention area as well. In fact, you may have even sought out videos they were in when you would frequent your local video store. The special guests announced so far are Brutus The Barber Beefcake and “The First Lady of Wrestling” Missy Hyatt.
What Else To Expect With The Blockbuster Video Experience At Comic Con?
The event this year will take place from August 23 to 25 at the Tampa Convention Center, located at 333 S Franklin St. In addition to those big names stopping by Blockbuster, other celebrity appearances over the weekend will include Vincent D’onofrio, Charlie Cox, Dave Foley, Katherine Tate, Jennifer Morrison, and Billy Dee Williams.
There will be an artist alley, an official fan meet-up, various panel programming events. Tickets are on sale now. Depending upon which pass option you choose prices range from $75 to $299 for VIP.
What Is Your Blockbuster Video Memory?
We all have one. Even if it wasn’t necessarily walking into the infamous blue and yellow movie ticket storefront, video stores had their places in each community.
What I remember most was how neatly organized my local Blockbuster was. Meaning, every film category had its own section clearly labeled in the store. You knew exactly where to go for comedies. Then, you had to check behind the box to see how many copies were left to rent.
It was fun to grab a movie to rent on weekend night. My local Blockbuster would leave their windows and doors open on summer nights making their atmosphere that much more inviting. Conveniently, the pizzeria next door always had something cooking in the oven so while you were there getting a movie, you might as well grab a pie to eat while watching.
