Why is that? Are they losing money by carrying them? Also, blockbuster isn't even carrying White Material but Netflix is. Weird. Maybe carrying blu ray releases of these older films is too much of a niche thing for it to be worth it to them financially.

Your guess is as good as mine. I get that there is a bigger market for newer films than older ones, but why stock up on something like The Green Hornet--which few people will bother to rent a few months from now (or even today)--but not buy a single copy of the phenomenal new HD restoration of Taxi Driver, which new generations will continue to seek out year after year.

If I remember correctly, I think netflix is of the school that blu ray will wither away in a few years and will be taken over by digital files and streaming. In other words, netflix and the other service probably want to see where the market goes before deciding to embrace blu ray with open arms, because many don't believe it'll become the dominant format ever, and that it will always remain a niche product.

On a side note, it's not going to be a pretty sight if any of these more recent criterion blu ray releases go out of print at some point, and Le Cercle Rouge and Army of Shadows probably will.

Blockbuster now has the CC Blu-rays of Kes, Blow Out, and White Material in stock.

Blockbuster has the CC blu-ray of The Mikado, but not Topsy-Turvy, at least not yet. They also have Yi Yi! And Le Cercle Rouge.

Hmmm...so Blockbuster seems to be getting its act together, as long as you're willing to wait a month or two after something comes out to rent it. Also, I know at least Yi Yi and The Mikado went from "On Order" to "Unavailable" before now becoming available, so you can't necessarily rule out that they'll get something eventually based on its current queue status.

Blockbuster continues to fill in some gaps, now making available The Naked Kiss, Shock Corridor, The Times of Harvey Milk, and Sweetie.

Blockbuster now has Robinson Crusoe on Mars and Topsy Turvy available. For anyone keeping score at home, out of 31 Criterion titles released this year so far on either Blu-ray or Eclipse, here's how many the different rental services currently have available:

Blockbuster: 17
ClassicFlix: 5
Netflix: 3
GreenCine: 2

And the patterns so far, in case it isn't already obvious:

Blockbuster: may take at least a month to stock something but seems to get most things eventually, other than Eclipse titles
ClassicFlix: will stock most things from before 1970 but that's not always a guarantee, especially if it's a foreign film
GreenCine: no Blu-ray program to speak of but appears to be generally reliable for Eclipse sets (and the DVD editions of mainline titles)
Netflix: only cares about movies made in the last couple years, enjoys torturing animals, hates your family

At this point, I only reactivate my Netflix subscription once every 4 months to catch up on a few recent releases I missed. So many movies, and yet so few I want to see.

FYI, they also slashed my tires.

Can't seem to be able to rent Charade on blu ray anywhere. Weird

one of the things that got me started on netflix way back in 2002 was the incredible and amazing fact that I could RENT criterion dvds, and other obscure, foreign, old titles on dvd. Things that in my town, at the time, I would never have a chance of finding at the local library, blockbuster or local chain video store.

I'd heard a lot, online, about so many titles, and netflix made them available.

Now netflix is no better than the old B&M stores of yesteryear. sigh. at least I now live in LA and it's easy to rent these at stores like Vidiots.

For the moment. But all the good video stores in NYC are toast, and that'll catch up with other cities in a few years. Don't expect Cinefile or Eddie Brandt's to last forever. Then what?

Blockbuster now has Army of Shadows and Broadcast News available for rent. That's 19 out of 24 of the titles released through April. I doubt they'll do any more catch-up (unless they eventually add the Eclipse releases) because the only other titles left (Fish Tank, Au revoir les enfants, and Fear and Loathing) are not in their system at all (other than for purchase). Still, this is streets ahead of where we were just a few weeks ago.

Hmmm. Clearly they have cashflow again after the acquisition. I hope it trickles down to other non-Criterion, non-Netflix titles, but I'm looking at my queue (for the first time in a while) and, from memory, the only recent, indie, catalog release they have that may have been unavailable before is the Fernando di Leo Collection from E1/Raro. But, hey, I'll take that.

And how can they be missing Fish Tank? Does it have boobies in it or something?

I am happy to report that both Kiss Me Deadly and the Raffaello Matarazzo Eclipse set are available from Blockbuster and one other location each. Hint: Neither of the locations is Netflix.

Your place?

Thankfully no, I have not had to start a rental company out of my own house. It was looking that way for a little while though.

People on Sunday, Zazie dans le métro, and Black Moon are all available now from Blockbuster.

Netflix specified it'll be carrying Leon Morin on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

Netflix now says "DVD available 7/26/2011, Blu-ray availability date unknown" for Leon Morin.

It was my understanding that Netflix's ultimate goal is to eliminate the mailing of DVDs and only offer streaming. The vast majority of their acquisitions are for licensing titles to stream and they're slowly phasing out DVD and Blu-Rays over the next five to ten years.

I suspect they're not carrying any of the recent Criterion releases because of the Hulu deal. If they can't get the rights to stream, they won't bother purchasing physical media they fully intend to throw in the trash at a later date.

My general impression is that it will be nearly impossible to find anywhere to rent physical media (besides a library) before the end of the decade.

There's no evidence to suggest that Netflix's treatment of Criterions has anything to do with the Hulu deal. Consider:

1. Netflix still stocks some new Criterion DVD releases (not many examples of this, but I know of Blow Out at least).
2. Netflix still stocks all new Criterion Blu-ray releases of films released in the last few years (like they do for just about all releases of newer films--they aren't phasing out physical media in this area at all).
3. Netflix basically doesn't stock any new releases of older films on Blu-ray, from Criterion or anyone.

This has nothing to do with the Hulu deal or what may or may not happen in the future, and everything to do with Netflix ceasing to care about its customers interested in seeing classic films in the best format possible. (Not to mention, failing to advertise this completely--the Netflix FAQ still misleadingly reads: "Yes, we carry Blu-ray movies and are adding more as they are released by the studios.")

In the meantime, thankfully, there is Blockbuster, who have turned around in the last month to start to offer just about everything Criterion releases again.

Also, I personally have a hard time believing that disc rentals will completely vanish until disc manufacturing does too.

If nothing else, the Red Box kiosks have been multiplying like rats lately- I think there's certainly still a market for physical releases of newer movies. But it's a sad day when Blockbuster is as good as it gets for older stuff.

What's with Netflix only carrying some of the films in CC box sets. For example, both the Costa set and the Varda set were released before netflix started dropping the ball on carrying new releases of older films, yet they only some of the films in those respective sets, which makes no sense, since you can't buy those films individually, but only as part of the set, unless of course they ran out of viable copies of Colossal Youth and Le Bonheur very quikcly without bothering to restock. It doesn't make sense they would carry Ossos and In Vanda's Room but not the third film, since you can only purchase the films together.


On a side note, let's just hope libraries will embrace blu ray in the next five to ten years.