What Movies Are You Waiting For?
Matthew on HiDefology is has been waiting since December 17th for Bladerunner on Blu-ray.
Okay Netflix, on December 17th, 2007 I added Blade Runner: Final Cut [Blu-ray] to the top of my queue and it has yet to show up. That’s with sending four or five movies a week back to you and receiving another four or five movies.That means that you have sent me over 100 movies, with Blade Runner in the top spot of my queue. Over 100! Ever time I return movies, I wait in anticipation of this possibly being the day that you decide to send me the movie.
Are you waiting for any movies from Netflix?

I tried to ask Netflix customer service more specifically how you are prioritized for movies, but couldn't get an answer.
That is, if Matthew has Blade Runner: Final Cut on top of his queue since December and I have it on top of my queue since February, does Matthew get it first?
They said, "No, it doesn't work like that."
But then how does it work?
Posted by: Godot | May 16, 2008 at 05:47 AM
I've had "The Mist" as VERY LONG WAIT since it came out.
Posted by: Scribe1964 | May 16, 2008 at 06:29 AM
The second season of No Reservations came out on DVD in Feb. and I still have only gotten one of the 3 discs and its always been at the top of my queue. I didn't know that show was that popular.
Posted by: david | May 16, 2008 at 08:17 AM
Thanks for the link. I just got an email last night from Netflix, informing me that Blade Runner will be shipping today from Coppell, TX. I live in Boston.
But, at least it's on the way.
Posted by: Matthew Crist | May 16, 2008 at 09:05 AM
I've been waiting for 'The Last of the Mohicans' since the day after the Oscars. I get that Daniel Day-Lewis has renewed interest in that movie, but this is the longest I've ever had to wait for anything.
Posted by: WendyD | May 16, 2008 at 09:14 AM
I waited for The Last Days of Disco forever, and finally they said it was no longer available.
Posted by: David Grenier | May 16, 2008 at 09:21 AM
Juno since it came out.
Posted by: joshhyde | May 16, 2008 at 09:28 AM
I've had Stargate SG-1: Season 5: Vol. 2 at the top of my queue in a "Very Long Wait" state for... 6 months or so? Please return it if you have it. Interestingly, they've not shipped Volume 3, although it recently bubbled up to #2 not that long ago. It's available "now".
Posted by: JJZ | May 16, 2008 at 09:31 AM
I've been waiting for La Vie En Rose since February. *sigh*
Posted by: Lee | May 16, 2008 at 09:32 AM
I had to wait over two months each for Michael Clayton and the Assassination of Jesse James.
After I sent an email to Netflix CS about my unhappiness, Michael Clayton magically shipped the next day. I got Jesse James about a week later.
I've also had the Mist at #1 since it's release, and still have a 'very long wait.'
Posted by: TJ | May 16, 2008 at 10:07 AM
I had to wait over two months each for Michael Clayton and the Assassination of Jesse James.
After I sent an email to Netflix CS about my unhappiness, Michael Clayton magically shipped the next day. I got Jesse James about a week later.
I've also had the Mist at #1 since it's release, and still have a 'very long wait.'
Posted by: TJ | May 16, 2008 at 10:08 AM
And the throttling continues, even after losing a class action lawsuit. I have also waited months for movies at the top of my queue. Strangely, what has occasionally happened is that I will remove a "Very Long Wait" from my queue and then put it back a couple of minutes later. Miraculously, it's now available.
Posted by: Marty McKee | May 16, 2008 at 10:21 AM
I'm wondering if the commenters above are heavy users. I have quite a few of those movies in my queue (La Vie en Rose, Bladerunner, Juno, The Mist...) and they're ALL marked as available Now. Because my HT is under construction I have been a pretty slow Netflix user these past few months.
Maybe not sending popular movies is the new throttling? :-) Don't complain, it's better than not sending a movie at all. :-)
Posted by: Scooby | May 16, 2008 at 10:36 AM
TO GODOT - REGARDING PRIORITY: The person who is paying the most per disc gets priority.
User A: Rents 12 movies per month on 3-out = $1.499 per disc
User B: Rents 13 movies per month on 3-out = $1.383 per disc
User C: Rents 14 movies per month on 3-out = $1.285 per disc
User A will always get priority. If you are User C and there are 1,000,000 A's and B's ahead of you, it's going to take a while.
Posted by: Im Not A Turnip | May 16, 2008 at 11:06 AM
They're still throttling us occasionally by not sending movies until two-three days after we return. I think we rank with User C.
Posted by: Matthew Crist | May 16, 2008 at 11:51 AM
August Rush, since it came out. It still says very long wait and they ship the movie right under it. believe me, there is no reason for throttling with me. Lately I've been keeping movies for a week.
Posted by: Liesl78 | May 16, 2008 at 11:54 AM
I just received and returned Juno, There Will be Blood (unplayable on my DVD player) and I have the Mist on the way.
I figure the only reason I received them as soon as I did (only added them to the list the day I saw the previous movie was returned) is because I went through all three seasons of BSG (personal copies) and have held onto my previous three NF dvd's for two weeks before watching and returnng them all at once.
Posted by: DAvid | May 16, 2008 at 12:01 PM
The Giants Super Bowl DVD & Weird Science Seasons 1 &2
Posted by: Where are my movies? | May 16, 2008 at 12:08 PM
If Netflix uses a prioritization scheme to determine who gets the DVD first I don't have a problem with it. They likely adjust prioritization only slightly based on how long you have been waiting.
It simply makes a lot of business sense. The people who are paying more per disc are profitable and subsidizing the high volume users, therefore they should get priority. This prioritizing is much better than throttling (sending from non-local distribution centers and other delay tactics).
If you don't like prioritization, simply leave Netflix, they wont mind, you likely aren't profitable anyways.
Posted by: ScottZ | May 16, 2008 at 12:22 PM
AvP 2 and The Mist. Buggers have been at the top of my list since their releases.
Posted by: Bobby | May 16, 2008 at 12:28 PM
Party Monster... its still not even in the system anymore :-(...
As for throttling, i had called to bitch, and they told me that if your top movies are "wait" status, if their logic says a movie "maaaayyy" be coming in, they will wait to see if it will be returned and hopefully send it out with the next batch; whether it is at your local distributor or out of state... so, flip flop your list with new and old movies...
Posted by: andyg8180 | May 16, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Beowulf: Director's Cut
I had the HD-DVD in my queue for at least a month with it going between long and very long wait, and then, proof HD-DVD no longer available, just dvd. Just recently they added back with blu-ray instead but the release date is unknown. If I can still get the HD-DVD (strangely enough I can only get the HD-DVD, not the blu-ray version, even though my account is enabled, still, for both) of planet earth than why can't I get the HD-DVD of Beowulf
netflix WTF is going on?
Posted by: deviationer | May 16, 2008 at 01:36 PM
I consider myself a pretty heavy user (have a 3-out plan and usually return movies 1-2 days after I receive them). I have never had problems this bad, but occasionally new movies end up on the top of my queue for a couple weeks. I just though I would share my trick for getting these movies...
I have an extra profile set up with a completely empty queue. When a movie that I really want has been at the top of my queue for a while, I remove it from my main queue and add it to my empty queue so that it is the only movie in that queue. I then set up this profile to receive on disc and my main profile down to 2 discs, I then return 1 movie, and simply wait. After netflix receives the movie, a couple days usually goes by with no movie being sent to me, but then I get an email saying it has shipped. I think the longest I have had to wait for a movie using this method was 5 days.
I originally discovered this when I set up and profile for my brother to rent a couple movies he wanted to see so I let him have one disc out, and at one point he got a movie that was sitting at the top of my list for a few weeks...
Posted by: Kevin | May 16, 2008 at 02:08 PM
Deviationer,
Beowulf came out right when everyone (including Netflix) was dropping the HD-DVD format. Netflix seems to have canceled the order for it. So I don't think it will ever be available in HD-DVD through them.
Posted by: Galofree | May 16, 2008 at 02:09 PM
I think Blade Runner had a bunch of printing errors, Discs labeled incorrectly and such, This happened to me on another box set. I got disc one and then the DVD went back into my saved queue. Maybe all the copies they have are botched.
Posted by: Travis | May 16, 2008 at 02:48 PM