Last movie rented at Blockbuster called 'This Is The End'

A picture tweeted by the store showed staff holding up the comedy film

Staff in Hawaii hold up 'This Is The End' as the last film rented by the retailer (Blockbuster)

Blockbuster has rented out its last ever film, an apocalyptic comedy aptly entitled This Is The End.

A picture tweeted from Blockbuster’s official Twitter feed confirmed the final film, starring James Franco and Jonah Hill, was hired at 11pm on 9 November in Hawaii.

Seth Rogen, co-writer and co-director of the 2013 movie reacted to the news on social media, calling it “nuts and sad”.

“The last movie ever rented from a Blockbuster was This Is The End,” he wrote. “In high school I would go hang out at Blockbuster every day.”

Around 2,800 US staff are expected to lose their jobs by mid-January as the retailer’s owner, Dish Network, closes down the remaining 300 Blockbuster stores. According to Varsity, some 50 stores will continue operating under license.

The rise of online video services has been blamed for the demise of Blockbuster, after the rising popularity of Netflix lessened demand for hard copy DVD rental. Thousands of stores have been closed since Blockbuster, founded in 1985, began to suffer huge losses three years ago.

In contrast, Netflix, which launched in 2002, currently has 31 million online subscribers, with another 7.1 million signed up for their DVD-by-mail service.