This is horse shit. They did exactly what you said. Started a war. 2 months from now I'm not going to be able to rent Lionsgate films from Blockbuster and have togo to Hollywood video or Netflix or whatever. Im not worried now as BB online subscriber, but this can only be bad for the future.

Also, why would TWC want to limit their audience like this? To me it makes no sense unless BB is paying them so much that it makes up for it.

~Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

John,
Hopefully, this won't prevent libraries from carrying these films, too.
I get about 90 percent of my film rentals from there. It's free, new titles are usually in the system within a week or two of regular release and it's a seven-day rental period with only a quarter charge per extra day past that. Oh yeah, the selection is very good too, with many foreign films, tv shows and documentaries available.
This is a great way to avoid having to patronize these rental outfits, that are really non-consumer friendly.

Well, there may be a case for taking both the Weinstein Co. & Blockbuster to court for this (though I doubt that will happen).
Many decades ago, the entire aspect of film distribution was owned by the film studios (ie. they owned the very theatres that their films played in). This was found to be illegal, and the studios had to sell off all their theatres. This seems to be going in the same direction if more studios decide to do this.
The Weinsteins did this obviously for the money. They're probably getting a much better percentage of the gross from just selling through Blockbuster exclusively.
I thought the idea of selling bonus items with dvd's & cd's at certain retail outlets, and not others was bad, but this is worse. I don't see major studios going this route though. The Weinstein Co. is a new
'independant' company and probably needs as much cash as it can get.
Whereas many independants have to work very hard (and get lucky) in getting any induvidual film distributed, this guarantees the Weinstein Co. a distributor for ALL the films they release.
Good for them, good for Blockbuster, though ultimately bad for the consumer.

I just don't see how this was even made possible! Doesn't everyone remember Nintendo's battle with rental companies, and how they lost that. They basically ruled that people can rent whatever they want, and no one can stop them. If this is true, it is indeed TERRIBLE news, and more studios will likely follow. But again, I don't see how this even happened!!

This is absurd - Blockbuster is trying to hold onto its evil empire and it's hurting us now. Damn the man.

Didn't Weinstein's just break with Disney? Isn't Blockbuster owned by Disney?

Well I really can't see how this will help them all that much. There are many many places out there in the world where Blockbuster has not sunken its claws into, where people wait pateintly for their video releases.

And they whine and complain about pirating and people "stealing" their movies.

Well no wonder.

If a king were to keep food out of reach of a peasant, what would that peasant do to get fed?

Agree with Bishop, in that restricting people's choices will just lead to more piracy.

How stupid can you be? What about all the people, in all the towns that don't have a Blockbuster or don't feel that they rent enough movies to join the mail service? Congratulations on shrinking your potential customer base, jackasses.

What would stop a rental place from buying copies at Best Buy and then renting them?

The only way this could work is to not release the dvd's for sale at the same time (like the old vhs sales/rental model).

I say the whole article is BS.

This news displeases me. Fuck them both. I'm stealing Weinstein movies now.

Hey Billy,

What will stop other rental places from buying them and renting them is the fact that they'd get their corporate asses sued off.

John,

Well, yeah, netflix might not be able to rent them if this holds up, but any local video store that is off the radar would be renting these no problem.

I guess my question is, can video stores only rent dvds that they obtain through certain channels. If the latest movie is renting out, can they just buy a couple more copies and throw them on the shelves? Or do they need to be ordered and cataloged by a distributor?

By the way, love the site/podcast.

oh well, if i really want to watch one of their movie, i'll go buy it. i personally hate blockbuster, i'll never rent there. i rent my movies from hollywood.

This TOTALLY sucks. I have agree with John that I don't like this one bit. I'm willing to go to the video store if I really want to see something but to be forced to go to a specific store bites the big one. Crappy news indeed.

this is terrible and sets a TERRIBLE precedent :(

boo on blockbuster and the weinsteins. i am really disappointend in the weinsteins, in particular.

This might cause netflix to fire back and sign an exclusive deal with another big name company.

We've seen this in videogames where EA sports bought exclusive rights to the NFL videogame franchise and 2k sports answers back by buying exclusive rights for MLB videogames.

In the end it's not good for the customer at all.

This is a non-issue. Anyone can rent whatever they choose. They just aren't going to be selling directly to rental stores. Yes, even netflix could just go to best buy and buy copies and rent them. Nothing will stop them. We have a first-sale doctrine in the US, which makes this possible.

It does alter things a bit, stores that are used to getting good deals by ordering direct won't be able to.

Well, that cinches that I'll not be watching a Weinstein film every again unless it's good enough for me to hit the theatre OR a friend buys/rents it and I happen to be there.

I've not done any business with Blockbuster since a very foul experience in 1998. Netflix has done nothing wrong to me since 2000 when I got my account, not even slowed the shipment of a disc.

That's a horrible plan, I think it's generally going to reduce their viewers and their profits from rentals and people who buy AFTER they rent.