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In the old VHS days, rental stores had to buy titles from the distributor at significantly high prices of around $100 as a one-off cost. The rental store could then rent it out as many times and not have to pay anything back. These were normally released to rental first followed by a retail or sell-thru release around 6-12 months later.

Now, many titles are released day-and-date (rental and sell thru simultaneously) but there are still distributors who release titles on rental with a 3-4 month window before releasing it to retail. The problem is that the rental wholesale prices are similar to the retail wholesale prices, perhaps marginally higher by a few bucks. Again, this is a one-off cost per DVD and the rental stores can rent it out as many times as they like without having to pay any royalties back to the distributor. There have been problems where certain rental stores/ chains abuse the window and start selling their "ex-rentals" prior to the actual retail release date to get rid of excess stock they may have for the title. Hence, why many studios release their films on day-and date. The saving virtue of rental stores is that the sales are firm sales whereas retail stores have a sale-or-return policy whereby if, after a certain period of a few months, they have excess stock of a title, they can return it to the distributor and get their money back. The rental stores cannot do this as they do not have a sale-or-return policy as all sales are firm sales. Many independent distributors do prefer to release films with a rental window for this reason and rental stores also tend to order more units of a title when there is a 3-4 month window before retail.

Accent Film Entertainment wrote:Many independent distributors do prefer to release films with a rental window for this reason and rental stores also tend to order more units of a title when there is a 3-4 month window before retail.

I remember this happening quite a bit in the VHS days, but I have not seen this at all in modern day. Out of curiosity, do you remember any specific examples of modern releases that did this?

sopordave wrote:I remember this happening quite a bit in the VHS days, but I have not seen this at all in modern day. Out of curiosity, do you remember any specific examples of modern releases that did this?

It happens quite a bit here in Australia. I believe Before The Devil Knows You're Dead was a rental exclusive release as was Stuck. We also released He Was a Quiet Man as a rental exclusive as well. The rental market in Australia is strong and it has had a 30% increase in the last few months due to the economic crisis.

NetFlix may offer "streaming only" subscriptions as early as 2010.

Dear Zachary, a much-praised documentary, is newly available on DVD and on instant viewing through Netflix.

I was just about to mention that myself. I just watched Dear Zachary last night, and it was a pretty heartwrenching experience, like watching your mom be in a Zack Snyder movie. I still haven't decided whether it might be a tad overdirected, but certainly, for the story alone it's worth watching, and it's best you know as little as possible going into it.

Latest annoying no-show for me is the 1940 Waterloo Bridge. No doubt because they already have something of that name (the '31 Forbidden Hollywood set contribution), so didn't flag that they needed it. I think this happens with a certain regularity but not consistency - I suspect the reason they aren't stocking Man of the West is because they already have something in their system called Frontier Doctor volume 2 that has Man of the West as an alternate title.

Just watched Dear Zachary myself, via Netflix instant viewing... And I'd heard those criticisms about it being "a tad overdirected," etc., but I think it's a film of masterful restraint, by a filmmaker with an indelible connection to the material. It's a profound statement on family and the failures of gatekeepers. I knew next to nothing about the subject, and that's really the best way to go into Dear Zachary. Really powerful, and highly recommended.

Add to your NetFlix queue from the NY Times.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is available for streaming, although the DVD itself is, frustratingly, not being stocked.

Its a good idea to catch some available New Yorker titles (Vidas Secas, How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman, Black Girl and Xala all come to mind).

Netflix's new Silverlight based movie player is causing a lot of grief.

Netflix has started adding movies from your regular queue to your instant queue once they become available for instant viewing. It's a nice little addition as long as the picture quality of the films isn't terrible in instant viewing.

Also, a couple titles I found that are newly available for instant:

The Story of Qiu Ju
Shanghai Triad
Kiss Me Deadly
Le Cercle Rouge
Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Carefree
Anna Karenina (1935)
Undertow

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but Budd Boetticher/Tyrone Power fans may be interested that Blood and Sand is available for instant viewing. Now if I could just stop watching Knight Rider I might actually get to experience some real cinema

I feel this might be old news and I'm just catching up, but Paul Schrader's Blue Collar is available. God I love that film.

And (please forgive if this has been covered elsewhere) you can now use your Roku player for Amazon Unbox video on demand.

Pierrot le Fou and Grand Illusion are now available on Watch Instantly.

Carol Reed's Odd Man Out, which is unavailable on DVD, is newly available for instant viewing. I've also updated the original post with a few other titles.

NetFlix throttling the stream for some users.

Elegy became available today, same day as it's DVD release. I don't know how often this happens. Picture quality was outstanding streamed through a Samsung BR player onto a HD TV.

From out of nowhere, Netflix has added three Satyajit Ray titles - Company Limited, The Middleman, and Hirak Rajar Deshe. I'm guessing these are the Angel DVD releases. Whatever the case, it is a nice surprise from Netflix.

Whale's Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein are newly available for instant viewing.

The instant viewing version of Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming is pan-and-scan. The instant viewing version of Man on Wire, however, looks amazing.

Bad Day at Black Rock is listed as being available in HD, but it not only looks like crap, it's cropped. High expectations, meet crushing disappointment.

I've noticed a few others that were P&S as well, which raises the question: How many titles are? Also makes me wonder: Have any titles been edited for content/length?

MyNameCriterionForum wrote:I've noticed a few others that were P&S as well, which raises the question: How many titles are? Also makes me wonder: Have any titles been edited for content/length?

The Seven-Ups was P&S. (Actually, it just looked unmatted, but in any case it wasn't OAR.) Also, some Netflix customer who saw the film previously said, "Also be advised that the version here available for instant viewing has been edited for content language and such and the chase scene seems shorter so renting would probably be better."

Also, the transfer looked like shit.

Guy Maddin's Careful is newly available for instant viewing, on the same day the new DVD came out.