Netflix DVD service dead at same age Leonardo DiCaprio dumps girlfriends.

Los Gatos / California

〰️

Los Gatos / California 〰️

DVD.com, 1998-2003. Image: Midjourney

With heavy hearts we announce the passing of Netflix's 25 year old DVD-by-mail service, DVD.com. DVD.com passed on September 29, following a quarter of a century as a trailblazer in entertainment.

Sources say the service died choking on a peanut butter cup while fishing down the side of the couch for the remote (relatable). The only thing more shocking than the news of its passing was hearing that DVD.com was actually still running.

Born in 1998 in Scouts Valley, California, DVD.com posted their first movie, Beetlejuice, on March 10. An artistic, Gen-Z, Pisces (slay!) the disruptor emerged the same year that Britney Spears sang ...baby one more time, James Cameron’s Titanic won 11 Oscars, and two spritely youngsters called Larry and Sergey launched a monopoly search engine.

A reliable companion to more than 40 million people, DVD.com’s red envelopes heralded joy and escapism. Remember that bright pop of colour in the mailbox amidst a sea of bills on a Friday night? Or perhaps it was the tactile rustle of tearing the envelope open and praying the disc wouldn't skip during a crucial plot point, necessitating a ‘technical tap’ of the DVD player.

First responders found the service unresponsive at the scene. Image: Midjourney

While some speculate DVD.com’s demise is a super awkward show of corporate solidarity with the Writers Guild Strike, DVD.com’s passing reminds us of all the features we loved from the medium writ large. When was the last time you saw a well curated menu screen for a movie, watched the director’s cut of your favourite film, or skipped straight to the special features and bloopers of a TV show?

DVD.com was a proud opponent of Blockbuster and entertainment behemoths of the day, defying the norms to champion a new, late-fee-free era in home cinema.

In 2007, DVD.com welcomed younger sibling, Netflix Streaming to the world. While streaming grew meteorically, spreading faster than a Netflix password at a college dorm (before the geolocation crackdown), DVD.com held ground. The service shipped more than 5.2 billion discs in its lifetime, accounting for 1.3 percent of all mail in the United States of America.

Image: Netflix

Those closest to the service, like Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, said “to everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you.”

The deceased’s estate will be settled by its Netflix family, who have chosen to generously give all outstanding DVDs away to subscribers. DVD.com announced in a recent Tweet that they would not be “charging for any unreturned discs after 9/29,” in a bid to offer users a tiny piece of tech trash history.

In just a quarter of a century DVD.com touched millions, changed how we view entertainment, and stood as a testament to innovation. While its physical form leaves us, its legacy lives on—nestled somewhere between clunky DVD players and streaming—reminding us of a bygone era where mailboxes were a portal to the movies, and writers and actors still got residuals.

Image: Netflix

In lieu of flowers, put on a nostalgic film, pop some corn, guard your streaming passwords like they're nuclear codes, and toast to an era that made mailbox-checking a sport.

Rest in peace, DVD.com. Finally you can chill. 🍿🎬📀

This obituary was edited with the help of comedian, Ben Searle. Watch Ben’s comedy here and here.