What was the Last Movie Released on VHS?

VHS tapes once released and hailed as a revolutionary medium for consumers and a significant disruptor in the entertainment industry, have nearly vanished from the movie and home video market. Let’s talk about the opposite of a Hollywood ending.

By the early 2000s, major retailers and rental stores had begun to adopt a new format — the DVD — signalling the (surround-sound) demise of VHS.

For several years, major film distributors continued to produce and sell VHS tapes alongside DVDs. However, by the mid-2000s, most started to phase out the format, leading to a gradual decline in the production of VHS titles.

In 2006, David Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence” was released on VHS, which is widely considered to be the last major film released in that format, according to a 2008 report from the Los Angeles Times.

While “A History of Violence” is likely the final major film to be released on VHS for the retail market, some Disney fans argue that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment kept producing VHS tapes exclusively for members of its Disney Movie Club, pointing to a late-2006 release of “Cars” as the last VHS sent to members. However, representatives from the Disney Movie Club and Shop Disney could not confirm which VHS titles were the last distributed to members or when they were released.

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In any case, DVDs had already become the medium of choice for most home-movie enthusiasts well before “A History of Violence” hit theatres. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t strong demand for VHS to this day, albeit in the collectors’ market.

“Everybody in the world used VHS. They were played all over the planet,” said Joe Maddalena, the executive vice president of Texas-based Heritage Auctions, ahead of the auction house’s first-ever VHS-only auction this month.

Maddalena warned, however, that VHS collectors are at the forefront of a “brand-new hobby,” so it’s unclear which titles, specifically, will become some of the most sought-after. As it currently stands, early activity from collectors seems to indicate interest in first-edition copies of films released in the ‘80s, at the height of the VHS rental boom.

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But that could change in coming years when tapes of this type become rarer. Collectors may soon start to covet special-edition VHS releases, or more obscure B-movies, or, possibly, even some of the last VHS tapes to be printed, like “A History of Violence.”