Gio Gutierrez

Neutered Netflix

// February 5th, 2010 // Personal

Netflix signed a frightening deal with Warner Bros, delaying new releases from going out to customers until 28 days of purgatory pass. TechCrunch dug through Netflix’s top January rentals, and they yanked any title that’s within 28 days of release. Over half (13 of 24) would be missing. Here’s an example:

1) Julie & Julia: December 8 — No

2) District 9: December 22 —- No

3) 500 Days of Summer: December 22 —- No

4) Angels and Demons: November 24 -– Yes

5) The Proposal: October 13 —-Yes

6) The Hangover: December 15 —- No

7) Star Trek: November 17 -Yes

Up: November 10 —-Yes

9) The Taking Of Pelham 123: November 3 -– Yes

10) Night At The Museum 2: December 1 -– Yes

11) The Ugly Truth: November 10 —- Yes

12) Public Enemies: December 8 -– No

13) The Hurt Locker: January 12 —- No

14) Inglourious Basterds: December 15 —- No

15) Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs: January 5 — No

16) Funny People: November 24 — Yes

17) G.I. Joe: November 3 — Yes

18) Harry Potter 6: December 8 —- No

19) Terminator 4: December 1 - Yes

20) Gamer: January 19 — No

21) A Perfect Getaway: December 29 — No

22) Extract: December 22 — No

23) 9: December 29 —– No

24) Transformers 2: October 20 — Yes

25) Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past: September 22 — Yes

Netflix has developed an amazing rental infrastructure. But they need to become as media savvy as Apple if they want to make it worth a damn. I personally take this as an insult coming from Warner Bros as they are giving consumers no alternate option than to purchase a $35 Blue-Ray movie that I’ll watch maybe two times. This whole fiasco is going to make people pirate (their) movies even more. Mark my words.