What Was the First DVD Netflix Ever Shipped?

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While Netflix may be known as one of the world's biggest streaming giants today, the company began as a DVD rental service. Have you ever wondered what the first Netflix DVD shipped was when the company launched in the late 1990s?

Netflix was founded in 1998 and the company started by renting DVDs to consumers via mail—a service the company still offers today. The luxury of Netflix DVD and Blu-ray rentals is that you can select the titles you want to watch from the comfort of your home and keep them for as long as you want, with no late fees. Once you ship the disc back, you get the next movie or TV series selected in your queue.

As of 2019, Netflix had shipped more than 5 billion titles to its customers—an impressive number that has only increased since then. But what was the very first movie Netflix ever shipped?

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What was the first movie Netflix ever shipped?

On March 10, 1998, Netflix shipped out its very first movie: a DVD copy of Tim Burton's 1988 hit movie Beetlejuice. Unfortunately, we do not know who the lucky person to receive that inaugural DVD was or if they even realized that they were igniting a movie rental revolution.

Does Netflix still rent DVDs and Blu-rays?

Even though Netflix is now synonymous with streaming, the Netflix DVD website is still active, and you can even add a DVD plan to your streaming subscription. There are two tiers: $9.99 per month allows you to check one DVD out at a time, while the premier tier allows you to have two movies out at a time and costs $14.99 per month.

Both subscription plans come with free shipping, no late fees, and the ability to cancel at any time. You can keep your movie for as long as you want, return it, and then once it returns to headquarters, another one is sent in its place.

The DVD website is actually pretty great if you’re a big movie buff, as the library is expansive and gets new movies faster than streaming. Plus there are tons of older films and TV shows you can’t see anywhere else.