New Release Availability from Netflix & Blockbuster

Kavajuice: "I can’t seem to get anything in terms of new released movies. It’s either a Short Wait or a Long Wait. Don’t get me wrong, I expect to wait if I am not on the queue for the next shipment but c’mon. Don’t they anticipate movies like 300 to have tons of viewers. Waiting 4 weeks and still nothing - 300’s DVD release was July 31, 2007. Don’t think I’ll get till September, if I’m lucky."

Netflix and Blockbuster allocate movies based on your usage profile, so some customers might see new releases immediately, while it can take a long time for others.

I just added 300 to my Netflix queue:

..and my Blockbuster queue shows "Long Wait:"

What have you found? How long do you wait for new releases from Netflix & Blockbuster?

Comments

[Mizery_Made]

I can usually get most new releases within release week, even if it is listed as "Short Wait," over the last month, I'd bet that a good 5 of the movies I've received have been listed as "Short Wait," but with them at the top of my queue, I still get them. Go figure :S

[WendyD]

I've never waited longer than a couple of days for a movie in all the years I've been a Netflix member. If I want something really badly, I keep it at the top of my queue and send something back on the Fri or Sat before the release comes out and 95% of the time I get the new release shipped to me on Monday.

[bradbogner]

If I have a disc coming into them on Monday, I will always get the new release shipped to my apartment for Tuesday. If I don't, then I end up waiting a month for the big titles.

Smaller titles like Fracture might say short wait and I get it rather quickly. But been waiting a month for Hot Fuzz, and it looks like the same can be said for Blades of Glory.

[brent]

Kavajuice, have you been receiving a lot of discs per month in past months? if so, My guess is Kavajuice is being throttled as described in this hackingnetflix article:
http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2007/06/how_to_beat_the.html

Brent

[kavajuice]

Kavajuice, have you been receiving a lot of discs per month in past months? if so, My guess is Kavajuice is being throttled as described in this hackingnetflix article:
http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2007/06/how_to_beat_the.html
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Thanks. I'll check on the link. I usually get 4 per week - 2 at a time. When I receive the DVDs, I always return it the next morning on my way to work.

[ALLEN C]

With Blockbuster total access I can get new releases. If you try on a weekend just after it is released, my local store probably doesn't have it. If you try the Tuesday that it is released I have always gotten any movie.

[Stone]

Well, I was in the same situation. I'm FINALLY able to get 300 this week since its been either Long Wait or Very Long Wait since its release. However, I added Blades of Glory today and guess what?? Long Wait :(

[Bobby]

I'm a netflix user and have close to 500 items in my Queue.

Sometimes I can get a new release if I time it right and their computer system isn't throttling me at that second.

Other times, like in the case of Reno 911: The Movie, films are unavailable for 3 and 4 months at a time. They've finally shipped it to me yesterday, but had to send me an email telling me it was coming from out of my area so it would take an extra day or two. Today's date is August 30, and the movie was released to dvd on February 23rd. In 4 months there hasn't been an available copy? Puh-lease.

[WG]

That's probably why you're listed with long wait kavajuice - you turn around a lot of movies a month.

I've not turned anything in since the end of July, mailed my movies back yesterday, and put 300 in my queue yesterday. It's at the #1 slot with availability of "now" and I expect it to ship tomorrow.

[Scribe1964]

Getting DVDs back to the DC on Monday almost always gets me the new release I want, though I sometimes miss one. In these cases, I keep the title at the top of my queue, even if it is a LONG WAIT. On quite a few occasions, I've had LONG WAIT title ship to me. In fact, it happened with 300, which I saw a couple of weeks ago. It was LONG WAIT when I left for work one morning, then it shipped that afternoon.

[sml514]

"Reno 911!: Miami" was actually released to movie theaters on February 23, released on DVD in June. :)

[BoB]

I'm a high volume user and I just added it to my queue and it came up as "short wait".

However since I have no intention of ever watching it, you may have my spot in the queue! :)

[DrHannahMD]

I have been using Netflix for almost five years, and honestly I can't recall any time that I have had a problem with a movie skipping. I do find 50% to be kind of dubious and clearly a bloated figure.

[DrHannahMD]

Yea, so I posted that one for the wrong post...I'm clearly a genius!

[Matt]

I added 300 a couple weeks ago and it shipped the next day. It said "long wait" at the time, but shipped immediately anyway. Seems odd?

[MCWHAMMER]

ATTENTION: For anyone who has been waiting on 300 forever...

It is not worth the wait. It is an action movie with no story. Just thought you should know that before sitting through it. I was so excited to finally see it on Blu-ray (Had to wait about a week and a half to get it... went from Long Wait to Short Wait, then to me), then was so disappointed with it.

Don't know what all the hype was about. It's just an average war movie, nothing new here folks.

Also, on topic, I do the same thing, plan for my DVDs to get back to Netflix on Monday, and they send my new release on Monday afternoon. Voila, very easy! Don't want to jinx it though, so I'll shut up now.

[Smits]

From Nflix,When I return a title on saturday, and the new release is queud #1, they ship the new release on monday. I recieve and view it tuesday. IF a title is listed as "long wait" or "very long wait", its probably a weinstein film. I go to my blockbuster queue, add the film at #1, and it ships within the week. This has worked without exception ever since BB started their "exclusive" arrangement. I am consitered high volume from both providers. I joined both 9 months ago, and throttling has been a short lived problem on just a few occasions. Playing one providers strength against the other works.
For anyone on "6 out" or higher with Nflix, it is more effective to be "3 out" with both at the same time. (my personal favorite though, is Nflix)

[eazyguy52]

If I ship my movies back on Saturday, then I usually will get new releases shipped out on Monday. I have sent them back on Monday on occasion and more often then not will still get new releases on Tuesday.

The Weinstein films always seem to be a terribly long wait, but it's not enough for me to want to full with Blockbuster again. I waited forever for Bobby, Miss Potter and American Pastime are still on Very Long Wait and have been since their release. But American Pastime is a Warner release, not Weinstein, so go figure. It was released May 22 and has been on very long wait since, so figure it out. It's been on there for over three months. (They weren't at the very top of my list the week they were released, which I now view as a mistake on my part)

The strangest one I had was with The Fugitive TV series when it was released two weeks ago. They immediately shipped out Disc Two and I got it the next day. Disc One was on a long wait which with most TV series, the first disc usually ends up that way. However, they did send Disc One the very next week...from Minnesota. I live in California. Discs three and four came overnight from my usual shipping center.

[darkbros]

I'm on BB TA, and I can't get new movies online period.
I have been relying on the unlimted coupons
to get new movies, as I'd hold my tv shows I got form online, and take them into the store to get new releases.

Now that the TA coupons are gone from unlimited to 5 at a time, I'll be dropping BB altogether and going to use RedBox for a while.
Been using them the last couple of weeks,
and for $1 a dvd, I haven't missed getting
anything new.

I'd sign up and pay through the nose for a service that had enough F*&^%^%$ inventory
and Distribution centers that there was NEVER a short wait/long wait/very long wait.

Neither NF or BB is the option for it right now.

[Jen K]

I had the same problem with 300. It had been at the top of my queue since before it came out. I finally took it off as a friend rented it. It was still at long wait.

I'm having the same problem with the TV show Eureka. It's been out almost two months now and disc one is still at long wait.

[cyber.diva]

I have a long queue of new and old TV series. I have found that the disc 1 of any series is the hardest one to get. I make sure I send watched discs back on Friday. Netflix gets them on Monday and almost always the disc 1 of anything I want, even brand new just released series, is shipped Monday and I recieve it on Tuesday. Discs 2-??? are sometimes a short wait but usually not more than a week or so. I just move them up the queue after I get the first one.
As for movies, I really don't have a burning need to see just released movies when they are released. Blockbuster will have them available at anytime 2 weeks or so after they are released if I really need to see them.

[Pocket Rocket]

I added 300 to my queue before it was released. After it was released, I was on a "Very Long Wait" for several weeks. All of a sudden, it became available Now. Strange thing is, I also get Short Wait for older movies that surely can't be that much in demand. But then I am a fairly heavy user, so I am sure I am being throttled.

[Rigel]

My queue is 300+ titles long. Everything I add goes at the bottom and has to work its way up. Thus, I get pretty much everything that reaches the #1 spot as soon as I want it. Granted, I end up seeing everything nearly a year after it comes out...

The stuff that I add at the bottom, however, never takes more than a month to become Available: Now, no matter what it is. Maybe it's because it's at the bottom?

[Old Timer Too]

Even with BB TA and being a heavy renter, I still got new releases that first week. With the weekend to watch through the movies and the ability to return to the story Sunday night, I always had open slots for new stuff.

And, if I waited, I generally saw the titles available for Total Access exchange.

Of course, all of that is now in the past with BB stupidly dropping plans and Netflix's lower disc quality and throttling (nice to see that both are still the norm).

Bottom Line? No online service for a long time to come... just purchases of those titles I really want.

[aussieguy]

We use BBTA heavily. I always make sure to have slots open if a new release is coming out that I want. BB always ships the new release on the Monday and we have it by 11am on the Tuesday from our mail lady.

If I mess up I simply head to my local BB store at 10am on Tuesday with some movies in their envelopes and pick up what I need.

Oddly the movies we really have problems getting through BBTA have not been new releases but rather childrens movies such as Power Rangers or Astro Boy. Those are long wait indefinately :(