Blockbuster Sleeve Maker
Make video store rental sleeves
Blockbuster VHS Sleeve Template Generator
Recreate the Blockbuster Video experience with authentic-looking VHS sleeves, and search from millions of movies and shows with automatic metadata pulled in from TMDB.
How to make your own Blockbuster VHS Sleeves
- Choose a movie or show ☝️ using the search bar.
- Use "Store Search" to add your old Blockbuster location to the label
- Tap "Export" and download the PDF on your paper size
- Print and cut your design, make sure to print at 100% scale
This is a generator for making print-ready VHS Polycase sleeves using a customized Blockbuster template. You can easily input your movie or show details, and the generator will format them into a printable VHS sleeve template.
Am I missing a store? Add yours!
You can use the tool above to punch in any address you want and add it to the cover. Or you can also view the whole list on Google Sheets
And if you want to add to this Google Sheet, you can submit any additional locations to this Google Sheet, and I will bring these into the database here.
Okay cool... what’s Blockbuster?
Well hello there young one!
Blockbuster Video was founded in 1985 and became the world's largest video rental chain. At its peak, Blockbuster had over 9,000 stores worldwide. The company closed in 2010, but it lives on in our hearts as a beloved symbol of video rental culture.
Why did you make this?
When I was a kid, Blockbuster = Weekend.
You'd get out of school, and you'd go to Blockbuster, pick out a movie or a video game, and then the weekend would officially begin.
And Blockbuster was everywhere. Like you know how there's a Starbucks on every corner? Well that used to be Blockbuster. I remember being 5 years old, and there was this highway exit where the road dropped down like a rollercoaster. And that was the exit for Blockbuster. It’s a whole vibe for me. For our generation, Blockbuster was an essential part of our childhood.
How the Blockbuster Barcode Worked
Each Blockbuster tape had a unique barcode that encoded everything the store needed to track that specific copy.
33 = Rental code
06785 = Store number
823426 = Movie Distributor (82) and Release number (3426)
004 = Copy number (which copy of that movie the store owned)
So if you rented Blow Dry from Palo Alto’s Blockbuster at 3960 El Camino Real, that “06785” would link to that exact location, and the system could track that specific copy out of possibly dozens they had in rotation.
In this generator, I’ve added a feature that mimics this logic — you can include a real store number from the database or type your own custom code. The barcode on your custom sleeve will then look and behave just like an authentic Blockbuster label, formatted with the same numbering pattern. I've combined "Movie Distributor Number" with the "Movie Release Number" and am using TMDB’s number ID for simplicity. But you are welcome to customize this in the "Codes" tab above by editing the "Title ID" which will automatically adjust the barcode.
Thanks to moe_kay_bonafide for making the image above and explaining how the numbering system worked. Also thank you Accurate-Cup-3501 for providing additional insights!
