Blockbuster BD rental discussion thread - Page 120

And Frankenweenie went to "unknown" for availability. Why do we bother?

Ouch! All new releases coming out today (January 8th) have an unknown status for release date on the Blockbuster@Home site. This is NOT good! Did they forget to place orders for new release titles over the Holidays? Someone must have taken a couple weeks off! lol! I started up a 1 disc at a time Netflix subscription and its a good thing I did. Some of the movies are held back 28 days, but sometimes the chances of waiting and getting it on Netflix are better and quicker than getting it through Blockbuster Online.

Just receive my copies of Dredd and The Bourne Legacy form Netflix. No complaints from me!



Ian

Blockbuster has it's own version of the Sarlacc Pit. Where new releases are gobbled up and dangle in "unknown availability" limbo . Looks like I'll be hittin' up Redbox for Dredd.

I was told that they've (corporate?) been closed over the holidays and my store is projecting to get the new titles on Friday.

The question still remains as to when will they be available by mail, since lately the stores have been getting the new rental releases first.



Ian

Yeah, the good thing with Netflix is they ship out new releases on Monday and you tend to have them Tuesday. That is one thing I have always liked about them. Blockbuster has done this for me in the past as well, but not as consistent and if they do ship out a new release title on Monday that is releasing on Tuesday I will often get it on Wednesday.

I was told the same B.S. I think this is a very lame excuse. Firstly, if your corporate office is going to be closed over the holidays then you should place the order for these movies BEFORE the holidays. They are using an excuse that is not really valid. Secondly, aren't a lot of corporate offices closed for the holidays? That doesn't necessarily effect their business. I am sure Redbox and the Netflix corporate offices were closed as well, but that didn't stop them from getting new release titles. In business you should always plan ahead if something in the future is going to effect the business which in this case was the holidays. This excuse really pisses me off as a customer and quite frankly is offensive. This excuse is another way of saying, "yeah, our holidays are more important than our customers so we're going to fall asleep for a couple weeks, take care of matters when we get back, and you will have your new releases several days after they come out."

I couldn't agree more.



Ian

I don't know of any time sensitive business, especially a Web based operation, that would shut down over any Holiday .. I guess BB is the exception .. even the couple B&M video stores in my area are open every day, all year .. if the folks at BB have not heard, the Web is open all the time .. I agree with you, the excuse is offensive

I deleted Dredd from it's "unknown availability" status and rented it from Redbox instead. Watched it last night, returned it this morning. Couldn't have been easier.

Don't be surprised if BB eventually sends you a copy. I've had BD's sent to me even though I had deleted them due to unknown status or long wait times.



Ian

As everyone stated, the excuse the corporate was closed is not a reasonable excuse not to have the titles available on the release date. They know better than anyone, the day of the release (and the first week) yeild the highest interest in a title. My opinion is they don't have the funding and are surviving month to month. Another possibilitiy is they are getting a price break on titles by delaying them to Blockbuster during the first week? This is obviously a guess on my part...but thinking about it....what is the alternative? Redbox doesn't carry all the titles.....most ppl don't have BOTH a BB and Netflix account. VOD is an option, but at $4 for a new title? There is a chance that BB won't even carry the title (esp. on bu ray).... I'm sure more ppl are considering purchasing movies vs the wait...which is what the studios would like anyway. Again, ALL conjecture on my part. ...just thinking through the logical reasoing for BB not keeping up with new releases.


On a somewhat related note...it seems my store is renting some blu rays that are in stock through their website service. Some of the new titles are showing up on shelves in their orginal blu ray case. I know my store's manager will comment that his boss has told him to "go out and stock up" on X title. ..almost as if he's buying them for the store, instead of getting them through the corporate process. I normally don't follow this thread, so this may have been discussed to death, so my apologies if it has. My reason for visiting, is I am on my final straw with BB's month service. I am thinking of jumping ship or just winging it through redbox, VOD and purchasing. It seems like everytime I think of dropping them, they come through for 1 week to some new titles I wouldn't be able to get somewhere else or don't want to buy.

Ron

95% of movie and music physical releases are made available through distributors for wholesale purchase between 1 or 2 weeks prior to street dates. During the end of year holiday season, that window often extends to 3 weeks before street date *just* for the purpose of retailers/rental services getting their stock inventoried for sale or rent on time around actual holidays. The BB excuse holds no water.

Frankly, it sounds very much like there's a credit crunch and cash flow constriction with BB. A very similar thing happened with the Tower Records and later Virgin Records chains when they could not get credit buys with their distributors and had to basically cash buy product based on actual demand after street dates from secondary distributors and even other retailers to stock in-demand releases on shelves.... only months before they declared bankruptcy and closed doors.

In fact, wholesale orders can be made months in advance .. which gives a distributor a better idea of demand and stock levels needed ..

If BB is being placed on a COD basis, that, in many cases, is the kiss of death on a business that is based on cash flow ..

You would think that the move to sell BB to Dish Network would have prevented all this. I don't believe at this juncture BB is going under, however, like I've posted before, I personally was not a big fan of the way Dish operates to begin with.


Ian

Thanks for the input guys. With Arrested Development new episodes on Netflix, I may make the switch. I hate to abandon my membership. The store level manager and employees are terrific to deal with, espcially in light of how they are hog tied by corporate.

I use to get great service from the BB store here in town and then about three years ago they closed it. The manager use to save me his movie posters since he knew I collected them. If you also plan to get Netflix streaming, check out The Killing which originally aired on AMC. Excellent murder mystery and it seems like Neflix will be producing the third season for Fox. They are also producing a new series with Kevin Spacey based on the 1993 hit Movie House Of Cards.


Ian

I thought it was based on a BBC short TV series from 1990?

The NF series Lillyhammer with Little Steven .. AKA Miami Steve, AKA Silvio Dante AKA Steven Van Zandt is worth a month of NF in and of itself .. even if you can't get a first month free ..

With David Fincher at the helm, I'm looking forward to it .. comes out next month I believe ..

and yes, I believe it was the BBC mini series ..

The former BB in my area had a woman manager that was absolutely horrendous toward customers .. although I'm sure that was not why they closed, it certainly did not help them bring in business ..

My mistake. I thought the movie was a political thriller from the 90's, far from it!



You're preaching to the choir. I live near Springsteen. My friend went to high school with Steve. Very funny guy.


Was she at least good looking?


Ian

I should have noticed you location of Springsteen Country. I've been a huge fan of Bruce and the E Street since I was 13 and saw the Time and Newsweek Cover stories in my school library. Nearing 70 shows (only 3 for the Wrecking Ball tour). My 8th grader has become a Bruce Fan too...he's been to 6 shows over 3 tours. In turn, he's turned me into a Jack White fan. So we've seen some great shows together over the last year.

Ron, no need. Just go to your BB account, look in the ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION section for >>Change | >>Hold | >>Cancel and click Hold. You can select up to3 months. They will stop billing you at the end of your current cycle. This way you can see if they improve and retain your account. You don't have anything to lose by doing this.

Great idea Wendell. thanks for the suggestion and instructions

Blockbuster definitely gets some movies a different way than what they used to. There are several Blu-ray's on the shelf that have the cover art for the Blu-ray's, but they use a black marker to cross out the part on top where it says Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet. They cross out DVD and Ultraviolet so they are definitely getting these from Target, Best Buy or wherever they buy them from. They must not be getting a good deal through the studio.


I think Dish is more for the TV business. They use Blockbuster as an avenue to sell Dish and a benefit for subscribers with the BB@Home.

Are some movies and TV shows coming up as Super HD and are you able to get Super HD through your ISP? If so, let me know how the quality is compared to the "old" HD.

The Killing was definitely a good show to watch, particularly the first season. AMC cancelled the show after season 2, but I read something in November they plan to revive the show. I was unclear if it was going to be going back to AMC or possibly a Netflix exclusive. I think one of the reasons for the show coming back was because of Joel Kinnaman. They say he is a star on the rise.

I use to be a stage actor and TV production assistant, and although it's been many years since those days, I still read the trades now and then. Fox TV and producers of the show have convinced AMC to revive The Killing by giving Netflix the exclusive rights to show the third season after AMC airs it late this spring. In return, Netflix will contribute to production costs. Having Emmy Award nominee Mireille Enos reprise her role as detective Sarah Linden didn't hurt. The series is currently in post production and hopefully once everything is ironed out, shooting will begin sometime in February.


Ian

It's funny you mention this. I just received any email from BB saying they're shipping Limitless to me. Wait. What? I had that movie in my queue back in July of 2011. Why they're sending me a movie I already watched and returned to them over a year ago and not one that's currently in my queue is a mystery to me.

They probably didn't have anything else available to send you...and someone else already had the only copy of "Ishtar".

Oh, that were me. I just dropped it in the post, along with Gigli.

Going to cancel service (again) before the 28th billing comes. Thought I'd give them another shot, but the service is just terrible. Takes 3 days to ship a movie to me from their distribution center. I can get a movie sent from another company (3DBD) in California (all the way on the other side of the country) in less time than it takes Blockbuster to send me a movie 200 miles away.