Disney Switching To Netflix For Exclusive Film Distribution 124
An anonymous reader writes "When Disney films leave the theater and head for TV, they currently go through the Starz channel first. That's going to change in 2016. Disney has signed a deal to give Netflix the first crack at its animated and live-action films. Even if you're not a fan of either company, this is a bit of a big deal; Disney is ditching a traditional pay-TV service in favor of online streaming. (It also includes properties from the recent Lucasfilm deal.) The article wisely points out that pay-TV in general isn't in danger until the live sports situation changes, but this is a big step away from the status quo."
Re:Dear Netflix: don't jack up rates (Score:5, Informative)
It is getting harder and harder to find things that I actually want to watch on Netflix. To add to this, I decided to try and watch some classic dystopian movies that I either havent seen in a long time or have not seen as of yet. So I went to wikipedia [wikipedia.org] to get a nice list of dystopian movies. Of the earliest made movies in that list, 16 of the first 20 (80%) are NOT available on netflix streaming:
La jetee (1962), The Trial (1962), Privilege (1967), Punishment Park (1971), THX 1138 (1971), Silent Running (1972), Z.P.G. (1972), Sleeper (1973), Soylent Green (1973), Welt am Draht (1973), Death Race 2000 (1975), Logan's Run (1976), Sleeping Dogs (1977), Escape from New York (1981), Blade Runner (1982), Turkey Shoot (1982)
I know that a few of these used to be available but now no longer are, such as Blade Runner and Escape from New York.
This is not the service that I wanted.
Re:Dear Netflix: don't jack up rates (Score:5, Informative)
Don't jack up rates to pay those Disney people. We'll just move elsewhere
The cellar-dweller lives.
The Disney brand name has been a marketing powerhouse since the 1920s.
Disney and Warner Brothers were the first of the major studios to make the move into television production --- jump-starting the infant ABC television network: Disneyland and Davy Crockett. The Mickey Mouse Club. Zorro.
Disney's move to NBC and full color production was headline news and an enormous driver of sales of color television sets.
Disney was reluctant to move into home video --- but when it did move it came in with all guns blazing. It remains a safe bet that the Disney feature will reach the top ten lists in video sales and rentals through any all distribution channels, no matter how well or how poorly it performed in the theatrical market.
Disney through acqusitions is Marvel Comics.
ESPN. Rocky and Bullwinkle. The Muppets. LucasFilms....
Re:Dear Netflix: don't jack up rates (Score:4, Informative)
Poor baby. They must all be on Starz or HBO then right?
Most of them are available on Amazon Instant Video.
To be specific, the only ones not available are:
La jetee (1962), Privilege (1967), Sleeper (1973), Welt am Draht (1973), Death Race 2000 (1975), Sleeping Dogs (1977), Escape from New York (1981), Turkey Shoot (1982)
So while Netflix offers 20% of the first 20 movies on the dystopian list, Amazon Instant offers 60% of the first 20 movies on the dystopian list.
Not only that, just searching Amazon Instant for "Soylent Green" will include in the first page of search results (7 results) a total of 6 movies in the first 20 of the dystopian list that are available for streaming, and 3 of those are free with Prime (the movie not on the list, also free with prime.)
In other words, there are services that offer vastly more content than Netflix does in general (3x as much in this sample), and also more content even under the umbrella of a cheaper ($6.67/mo for Prime) subscription rate.
Netflix is dropping the ball. Its not the service people actually want.