{"id":2295170,"date":"2026-02-23T11:22:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2295170"},"modified":"2026-02-23T11:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:22:22","slug":"why-gen-z-wants-to-buy-and-rent-dvds-and-blu-rays-in-the-age-of-streaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/why-gen-z-wants-to-buy-and-rent-dvds-and-blu-rays-in-the-age-of-streaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Gen Z wants to buy and rent DVDs and Blu-rays in the age of streaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Before the lights dimmed for the film, \u201cThe Lady from Shanghai\u201d at Vidiots<\/a>, Aidan Gannon and Jason Fine were busy perusing the aisles of endless DVDs. For these young cinephiles, the Eagle Rock hub isn\u2019t just a theater \u2014 it\u2019s a gateway to film history.<\/p>\n

In a matter of minutes, the 24-year-olds found themselves in the thick of its \u201cStar Wars\u201d<\/a> DVD and Blu-ray collection, reminiscing about the special features they enjoyed as kids.<\/p>\n

But for them, collecting and watching DVDs isn\u2019t merely a childhood memory. They\u2019ve rediscovered the medium as adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want something I can put on my shelf,\u201d Gannon said, having recently collected 200 discs. \u201cI can go shopping in my closet and grab something and pop it in, instead of spending an hour scrolling through Netflix to find something and then just turning on the same TV show.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vesta McDade, 13, browses DVDs at Videotheque in Highland Park.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

And Gannon isn\u2019t the only one. Local video rental stores like Vidiots,<\/a> the Highland Park-based Vid\u00e9oth\u00e8que and the Westside\u2019s Cinefile video store on Sawtelle<\/a> are reporting higher rentals, purchases and foot traffic. Even Barnes & Noble, one of the last major retailers selling movie discs, sees sales growth in that area.<\/p>\n

Before streaming platforms dominated at-home entertainment, consumers relied on places like Blockbuster, the now nearly erased<\/a> movie rental chain and RedBox, the defunct movie vending machines<\/a>, to watch newly released films. So, when Netflix and others launched streaming services, physical distribution eventually waned.<\/p>\n

Similar to vinyl records that saw a resurgence among millennial customers, DVDs are enjoying a comeback with some Gen Z buyers, even though the discs no longer drive significant studio profits.<\/p>\n

DVD sales have been falling for years, dropping more than 20% in 2023 and 2024 alone. However, the falloff slowed substantially last year when sales of DVDs, Blu-rays and 4K Ultra HD declined just 9%, according to the trade association Digital Entertainment Group.<\/p>\n

In turn, boutique Blu-ray companies, like the Criterion Collection<\/a>, are similarly on the rise. As one of the leading independent home-video sellers specializing in classic and contemporary films, Criterion confirmed to The Times the company\u2019s sales are seeing \u201csignificant year-over-year increases.\u201d <\/p>\n

Peter Becker, president of Criterion, credits this continued annual growth to young customers\u2019 enthusiasm for physical formats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the dawn of streaming, it seemed like maybe this was not going to happen, but it has definitely happened,\u201d said Becker. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of evidence, including at the Criterion Mobile Closet,<\/a> that more young people are thinking about physical media in a different way. In an age where so much is available to us on demand, it becomes increasingly important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Jo Smith, president of the Digital Entertainment Group, said sales of physical media tend to peak around the release of highly sought-after titles like \u201cWicked\u201d and other franchise collections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is most clear in 4K UHD Blu-ray, which delivers a premium in-home viewing experience,\u201d Smith said, adding that \u201cU.S. viewers spent 12 percent more buying titles on 4K UHD in 2025 than they did in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January 2026, Vidiots said it had its biggest month ever \u2014 renting an average of 170 movies daily and renting 500 titles in just one day. Each disc rents for $3, including their most popular titles like David Lynch\u2019s \u201cWild at Heart\u201d and Elaine May\u2019s \u201cThe Heartbreak Kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it opened in 2023, <\/a>Vidiots loaned out around 22,000 discs. A year later, it doubled to around 50,000. The shop\u2019s rental numbers have continued to rise, hitting a little over 1,000 movies a week in 2025.<\/p>\n

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\"Nat <\/picture>\n
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Nat Roberts retrieves DVDs from shelves behind the counter at Vidiots. Roberts has worked at the store for two years. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Robbie McCluskey, the director of the video store, said the most recent numbers aren\u2019t \u201ceven close to back in the mid-2010s,\u201d adding that this moment feels like a \u201cgolden age\u201d for physical media. <\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Bianca Garcia and her friends Lauren and Emily VanDerwerken were on a mission to find \u201cRaising Helen\u201d and \u201cDrop Dead Gorgeous\u201d in the Vidiots collection, as they couldn\u2019t find the titles on streaming. For them, owning and renting physical media is all about reassurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf something gets deleted off an online platform, I will still be able to watch it because I have a physical copy,\u201d said Lauren, 31. \u201cIt feels really precious to be able to own things physically and not be at the mercy of studios\u2019 financial decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia, 27, who first started to dive into cinema during the pandemic, sees physical media ownership as an act of \u201crebellion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Jay <\/picture>\n
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Jay Spencer restocks DVDs at Vidiots<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cAt this point, I\u2019m forced to have six different subscriptions, which is insane, and I still can\u2019t find what I want to watch,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWhy am I paying this much for them to give me a movie for a year and take it away?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVidiots is full of people who actually love movies and don\u2019t just want my subscription money every month,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cinefile, a video shop founded in 1999, boasts a similar upward trend in business. Post-COVID, there were roughly 300 paying members. Today, that number hovers around 500.<\/p>\n

Luis Samra, an employee at Cinefile, has noticed both a flood of younger followers on the store\u2019s Instagram page and an influx of college students coming into the shop. He says, every Friday night (when they are open until midnight), he sees Gen Z friend groups pour into the store, in search of the movies from David Lynch<\/a>, David Cronenberg<\/a> and anything from A24, the production company best known for movies like \u201cHereditary,\u201d \u201cMidsommar\u201d and \u201cMarty Supreme.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like an after-dinner hangout activity,\u201d said Samra. \u201cThey like to browse amongst each other and say \u2018Have you seen this movie?\u2019 or \u2018Have you seen this director?\u2019 And maybe one in three of those people usually come up and make a membership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before this surge in memberships, the video store relied on providing more niche films. But with the renewed interest, Cinefile is able to spend more money to keep up withcurrent releases, like buying all of this year\u2019s Oscar-nominated films<\/a> for customersto rent. They\u2019ve also been able to bulk up their for-sale section.<\/p>\n

Barnes & Noble is one of the few remaining chain retailers that still dedicates in-store space to physical media items. According to Bill Castle, the director of B&N\u2019s music and video section, sales of DVDs and Blu-rays have increased by \u201cmid-double digits\u201d in the last year. <\/p>\n

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\"Victor <\/picture>\n
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Victor Gonzales, left, browses inside Videotheque on Feb. 14. Gonzales said he has been coming to the store since it was located in South Pasadena more than 10 years ago and now lives nearby.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cWe see across all of our platforms, books, vinyl, everything, is way up for us. People want to own things and build libraries,\u201d said Castle, who added that Barnes & Noble\u2019s media section demographics continue to skew toward younger shoppers. \u201cIt\u2019s convenient. They can listen or watch them at any time. They don\u2019t have to worry about what streaming service has it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castle said he is frustrated when major studios like Disney<\/a> seem to prioritize streaming over physical releases.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Disney moved from their own distribution to Sony<\/a>, we saw a drop in their title count, and we often carried all the Disney titles. We see it shrinking from some studios,\u201d said Castle. \u201cWe need products to sell interesting things for our shoppers to browse through. So without more content, it\u2019s a disadvantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, producer and chair of USC Peter Stark Producing Program Ed Saxon was \u201cshocked\u201d when he received one of his old movies, \u201cMarried to the Mob\u201d (1988), as a new release from Blu-ray boutique vendor Vinegar Syndrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Phoenix <\/picture>\n
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Phoenix Topete and Dayana Gallardo visit Videotheque for a Valentine\u2019s Day date on Feb. 14. Gallardo said she first began coming to the store in fall 2023 and that she and her boyfriend enjoy browsing for movies together. Maddie Bumb, seen in the background, has worked at the store for two and a half years and was previously a customer when it was located in South Pasadena.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s well thought of to this day, but it wasn\u2019t a big hit. It\u2019s directed by a notable director, but that would not have happened before this bump,\u201d said Saxon, referring to the film\u2019s reemergence. \u201cIn an era where we\u2019re all so online, it was reassuring and felt nurturing. It\u2019s good evidence of how much film culture means to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He suggested a precursor to this rise in popularity began in the 2010s, when audio streaming platforms were introduced and vinyl records started to regain popularity among millennials. He explained that to younger people like his students, collecting and renting DVDs is a way \u201cto be able to slow down and get off this hedonic treadmill of \u2018where\u2019s my next stimulus coming from.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInfinite choice is exhausting. People are just tired of all of it. Putting a claim down on a piece of culture is in some ways subversive and fights back against platform control,\u201d said Saxon. \u201cPhysical media isn\u2019t competing with streaming. It\u2019s instead correcting for the context and commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saxon, who produced \u201cThe Silence of the Lambs,\u201d<\/a> is also well aware that physical media can be a \u201cnice piece of business for the studios.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201c\u2018The Silence of the Lambs\u2019 is a perennial now. I understand how it\u2019s been everywhere, but that movie means enough to people that they will go buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kind of mass market for older films that don\u2019t have new sources of revenue, beyond new streaming platforms, [physical media] is a nice bonus, and when you add it up across a whole library of films from the studios, it adds up to real money.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before the lights dimmed for the film, \u201cThe Lady from Shanghai\u201d at Vidiots, Aidan Gannon and Jason Fine were busy perusing the aisles of endless DVDs. For these young cinephiles, the Eagle Rock hub isn\u2019t just a theater \u2014 it\u2019s a gateway to film history. In a matter of minutes, the 24-year-olds found themselves in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2295171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2295170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Why-Gen-Z-wants-to-buy-and-rent-DVDs-and.com2F3e2F6f2F21a5b64943eaaa9d79736227.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2295170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2295172,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295170\/revisions\/2295172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2295171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2295170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2295170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2295170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}