Can't wait to rent "Avatar" on DVD or Blu-ray? Well, if you're a Blockbuster subscriber, the day you've been waiting for arrives in just a couple of weeks. If you're a Netflix user, though, don't expect to find "Avatar" in your mailbox until mid-May.
Mirroring a deal that Netflix signed with Warner Bros. earlier this year, the freshly inked agreements between Netflix and two other big Hollywood studios — Twentieth Century Fox and Universal — call for a 28-day delay between the time that new DVD and Blu-ray releases from the studios go on sale and when they become available for rent in your Netflix queue, PC World reports.
In the case of Fox, that means "Avatar," which has a retail release date of April 22, won't be available for rent through Netflix until May 20, according to PC World. Meanwhile, "It's Complicated" from Universal won't bow on Netflix until May 25, nearly a month after the movie's April 27 retail debut.
The 28-day delay gives the studios a little more time — or at least, they hope so — to rack up sales on their latest DVDs and Blu-rays and get more on-demand exposure (both via cable and iTunes) before Netflix renters get their hands on the discs. In return, Netflix will get more instant streaming titles from the two studios. From Fox, expect "Aliens," "The Thin Red Line," and Patton," plus full seasons of "Lie to Me," "24," "King of the Hill," and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"; Universal, meanwhile will offer up such titles as "Gosford Park," "Billy Elliot," "The Pianist," and "Do the Right Thing," according to TechCrunch.
Meanwhile, Blockbuster will get a leg up on Netflix thanks to its new deal with Fox, which (as the L.A. Times reports) allows the retail chain to rent Fox's DVDs and Blu-rays — both in stores and by mail — on the same day they go on sale. (Blockbuster signed a similar deal with Warner last month. That effectively gives Blockbuster an advantage in terms of offering, say, "Avatar" for rent nearly a full month before Netflix does. (Oh, and in case you're wondering, no: The "Avatar" Blu-ray that's coming out this month won't be in 3-D.)
On the other hand, as the L.A. Times points out, financially strapped Blockbuster had to pay a heavy price for the privilege: Both Fox and Sony Pictures (with which Blockbuster also cut a deal) now have a first lien on Blockbuster's Canadian stores. Ouch.
I'd also expect the other shoe to drop soon with Redbox, which (like Netflix) recently signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros. that calls for — you guessed it — a 28-day window before it can start renting the studio's latest DVDs.
Redbox had initially opposed the idea of a DVD retail window and filed suit against Warner, Fox and Universal, all of whom had instructed their distributors to hold back their DVDs from the buck-a-night kiosk company until a month or so (depending on the studio) after their discs had arrived in stores. Redbox dropped its suit against Warner once it signed the new distribution deal, and I'm guessing we'll see the same thing happen with Fox and Universal in the near future.
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