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Has anyone else noticed that releases of old movies on Blu-ray are not happening on Netflix? Ex.: Jaws, Alien, etc. Is there a release delay on these similar to the 30 days on new films? Frustrating...


I'm not sure about Jaws and Alien, but on this list, it shows a number of older movies that Netflix is getting on Blu-ray:


good link - thanks!


I wish netflix would release more current movies on streaming. i don't know if the movie industry is just lame lately, or if netflix just doens't prioritize newer streaming titles. Instant Watcher sorted by date only has a handful of highly rated movies newer than 2009...

Kyle B

@T0n3--It's the studios that decide what is streamed, not Netflix. The studios reserve newer films for disc, VOD, and pay per view sales. Netflix would happily buy all the newer/recent content that we want to see-and happily charge us waymore than the meager $7.99 they charge now.

Mr Mister

That's the real problem with streaming, NF (etal) is at the mercy of the copywrite holders (studios, etc.) as to what they can stream and what they pay to get that content.

With DVDs, NF can rent as they choose after they buy the discs.


Instant Watcher might be wrong... I use thenowhereman and sorted by year. There were 70 pages worth of TV shows and movies newer than 2009:


Groggie, try hitting 'blockbusters' and sort by date; you will get two titles newer than 2009.


Mr Mister - I assume the blu-rays are the same deal. Is Netflix simply not buying the bigger name titles on blu-ray (I point again to Jaws, Alien Quadrilogy, Shrek, etc) or are the studios limiting when and if they can purchase those for rental?

Perkins Cobb

Netflix isn't buying the catalog titles on Blu because they want you to stream instead. They get away with it because customers who want Blu don't have anywhere else to rent, unless they're lucky enough to still have brick and mortar options.


I don't know if I agree with the Blockbuster search. I hit it, and yeah, not much comes up... but I have seen titles that I would consider a blockbuster (although my definition of a blockbuster might not fit other people's definition), that are not on that list, such as Thor, Black Swan, Captain America, Transformers, The Expendables, Tucker and Dale, Conan, Take me Home Tonight... And those are just the ones off the top of my head.


Young Adult is a newer title...



How ya like me now!?!


Time for some Adam West... and I was browsing Netflix and I came across a test video called "Example Show". The reviews are funny.

El Don

Man, some of that Disney stuff is showing up already. Great for the kids!!!!

So far I see:

Bunch of Tinker Bells
Fox and the Hound
The Muppet Movie
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Rescuers Down Under
Search for Santa Paws

And a bunch more. I see Netflix subscriber numbers increasing QUICKLY.


First generation Star Trek movies are back in streaming after being gone a month, some on Netflix and some on Amazon. If you like Rose Byrne, check out "The Goddess of 1967".


I agree El Don. They already have the great deal with Nickelodeon. Now you get the Disney stuff and starting next month Dreamworks Animation. Parents are going to sign up in droves. I read an analyst predicting this deal cost way too much and NF would need a min. of 3 million new domestic subs just to break even... yeah, I think they can easily do that in the next quarter with all the kids stuff they have in the pipeline.


Not to mention the deal also includes Pixar and Lucasarts which means we could be getting the Star Wars stuff on Instant, now that would be a massive uptick in subscribers right there.


@Perkins Cobb
But the titles they aren't stocking blu-ray versions aren't streaming either, so it doesn't really help that situation.

Perkins Cobb

Marlowe: Not only that, but in most cases Netflix is skipping the DVD editions as well, completely shutting out most older films that are just being released on disc now. Nothing from the Criterion Collection (apart from the few contemporary films they release), nothing from Olive Films (which has licensed the Paramount catalog, and have just done TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING and THE QUIET MAN on Blu). None of the new Hitchcock Blu-rays from Universal.

If Netflix is taking my $1-$8 a month for Blu-ray "access," then they should stock the Blu-rays for films as important as THE QUIET MAN or VERTIGO or TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (released on Blu-ray in January, and not available from NF in any format). Shameful. Truly, they're Blockbuster now -- I hold my nose and do business with them only because I don't have a better alternative.


I wish these comments had a "vote up" option. I agree with Perkins Cobb completely about not getting important older films on blu-ray.


Several DVDs in my queue that had "short wait" and "long wait" for many months have started coming through in the past month. I never know what to expect from my queue anymore until it gets shipped.


Sometimes I feel like this blog is being maintained by a bot or something which automatically posts the new releases each week. It used to respond to current Netflix news and yet several items have slipped by for days and even weeks at a time. House of Cards was about a week after everyone online had already talked about it. The huge Disney deal is still seemingly not worthy of notice. Maybe someone else needs to take over this blog if the current runner doesn't have the time to maintain it.


@Perkins Cobb
Couldn't have said it better, totally agree.


@Perkins Cobb and bandwagonners

It would be nice for them to have those, and in the old days, they probably would. But as they've become a bigger company, they've made contracts with the studios in order to be able to purchase larger volumes. This does however mean they purchase direct formt he studio, and the studio generally has a minimum order they'll accept of rental discs... say it's 2,000. And say 5,000 have 'to kill a mockingbird' in their saved queue. they get it within 2 cycles. Then Netflix has 2,000 rental copies (which they can't resell) of a movie that is a classic and will always have SOME demand, but never enough to justify that many copies. It just doesn't make business sense.

I'd love it if Netflix DIDN'T buy studio direct, and bought from stores, then we'd have less DRM and more special features and such.... But it would also be either a more expensive service, or even worse wait times than it already is.

Food for thought.


@Kerina I think Mike (the dude who runs this site) does have it set to autopost the new releases, but the rest of the stuff he's just way behind as a)he was in the hurricane b)he also has a real job and c)it's the holidays.

This is a pet project that's taken off and gets significant traffic, yet the dude has not monetized it at all... I cut some slack.


The New Zealand Series "Outrageous Fortune" expired 12/01 - I would like for Netflix to bring it back or renew it, I really loved that series and I miss it. Please bring back 'OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE'


I saw the new release of Vertigo on the Retro Channel (cable & satellite), and even with the compression algorithms that were applied, it is an extraordinarily beautiful print, especially the street scenes of 1950's San Francisco. Very sad that we didn't get this wonderful movie in BluRay.


You make some good points, but I can't imagine getting Jaws, Shrek or Aliens on Blu-ray would be a bad business decision. Those aren't niche films.
Anyhoo, I won't hold my breath, just wondering.

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