Hollywood Entertainment Corp., also known as Hollywood Video, was an American video rental store chain located in Wilsonville, Oregon. It was started by Mark Wattles in 1988. After the company went public in 1993, it grew quickly and became the largest competitor to Blockbuster in city areas.

At the end of the 1990s, Hollywood Video was the first major chain to offer DVD rentals. In July 1998, the company bought Reel.com to expand into the internet. However, as video on demand services became popular in the early 2000s, Hollywood Video began losing money. To try entering the video game market, the company started GameCrazy, a video game store.

In 2005, Blockbuster made an unwanted attempt to take over Hollywood Entertainment Corp. To avoid this, the company merged with Movie Gallery, Inc. for $1.2 billion in April 2005. Although this merger increased Movie Gallery’s profits at first, the new debt caused the company to go bankrupt and close all stores by 2010.

In December 2011, Hollywood Video’s website was relaunched as an entertainment news blog. The website is still active, with new entries added in 2025.

History

In 1984, Mark Wattles left college and had money problems. His parents gave him and his wife a VCR, which they used for low-cost entertainment. Wattles later said, "I thought, 'There must be other people in America in the same situation. This could be a great business.'" In 1985, Wattles borrowed money to open Home Theater, a 500-square-foot video rental store with 300 films in downtown Portland, Oregon. Three years later, in 1988, Wattles created Hollywood Entertainment and became its president and chief executive. Hollywood Video stores later opened in Washington, California, Nevada, and Texas.

In 1993, Hollywood, which had 16 stores, became a public company. By 1994, the average Hollywood Video store was 7,500 square feet and held 16,000 video tapes. Some stores kept up to 70 copies of a popular film, while others had as many as 200 copies of one film. At that time, each store earned about $1 million (~$1.87 million in 2024). The company planned to open 78 more stores in 1995.

In January 1995, Blockbuster sued Hollywood Entertainment for $10 million, claiming that five former Blockbuster employees knew the company’s trade secrets and could help Hollywood. At that time, Hollywood Video had 117 stores, while Blockbuster had 2,800 stores. Hollywood Video ranked fourth in national sales. In May 1995, a judge ruled in favor of Hollywood Entertainment, stating Blockbuster had not proven serious harm from the hiring.

In June 1995, Hollywood Entertainment had 153 stores in 11 states. The company operated stores under the names Video Park and Video Central. That month, Hollywood announced plans to triple the number of stores by late 1997. In August 1995, Hollywood purchased the 42-store Video Watch chain in the Midwest for $59 million (~$111 million in 2024). Video Watch was the last of four video rental chains Hollywood targeted for purchase. In November 1995, Hollywood announced plans to open 90 stores in Michigan over three years and more than 200 stores in 1996.

In 1996, Hollywood created three regional offices in Chicago, Houston, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Julie Wainwright became president and CEO of Reel.com, replacing founder Stuart Skorman. In July 1998, Mark Wattles announced Hollywood had purchased Reel.com for $100 million, including $30 million (~$55.2 million in 2024) in cash to Reel’s stockholders. Reel.com continued to operate independently, led by Julie Wainwright, who later left and was replaced by Jeff Jordan.

In December 2004, Blockbuster Video tried to take over Hollywood Video by offering $14.50 per share. In response, Hollywood Video agreed to be bought by Movie Gallery for $860 million, $13.25 per share, and $380 million in debt. Stocks closed at $13.85 on January 10, 2005, after the news. Blockbuster then canceled its plans due to antitrust concerns. Movie Gallery completed the purchase on April 27, 2005. Hollywood Video became part of Movie Gallery and kept its Oregon headquarters, which Movie Gallery later moved into.

Hollywood’s last U.S. store closed on July 31, 2010, and the last Canadian store closed on August 8, 2010.

In December 2011, the website hollywoodvideo.com was relaunched as a movie news blog. The site used an automated "social scoring algorithm" to link to articles about movies and entertainment. It also had a blog written by one editor (later expanded to multiple editors) about movie news. By April 2013, the algorithm was removed, and the site only featured the blog. The website also allowed users to search and buy movies from Amazon.com directly.

Headquarters

At one time, Hollywood Video was based in Beaverton, Oregon, in an office building that was 85,000 square feet (7,900 m²) in size. In 1996, Hollywood Video moved its employees out of the building two years into its five-year lease. At the same time, Poorman-Douglas Corp agreed to use all of the space in the Beaverton building. This helped Hollywood Video avoid paying extra rent.

After Hollywood Video decided to leave Beaverton, it signed a long-term lease for a building in Wilsonville, Oregon, that was 166,000 square feet (15,400 m²) in size. Robert Goldfield of the Portland Business Journal said that Hollywood Video only partially occupied the structure. Then, Mark Wattles, the chief executive, decided to move the offices and the Hollywood Video headquarters to the former Smith's Home Furnishings headquarters in Wilsonville. In 1996, 170 full-time employees worked from the headquarters. The headquarters facility, which was 173,000 square feet (16,100 m²) in size, was no longer used by October 1998. At that time, the space was available for rent.

In 1997, when Hollywood Video was looking for a new headquarters location, the City of Wilsonville had rules that did not allow companies to use neon signs. These rules made Hollywood Video consider other locations. Members of the City of Wilsonville's development review boards said that neon signs were not in line with the character of the Wilsonville Business Park, which was Hollywood Video's potential location.

In January 1999, Trammell Crow Co. purchased the 77-acre (31 ha) Thrifty Payless Inc. headquarters for $25.5 million. The company then divided the property into sections and sold parts of it for a total of $22 million. Trammell Crow kept control of the $8 million, 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m²) headquarters building. Hollywood Video leased the headquarters building, and Hollywood Video remained based in Wilsonville.