How are Instant Watch movies selected? and why are there so many more bad ones than good?

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Permalink Reply by Aces on September 23, 2009 at 4:59pm

"I have blasted through most of the great films available for Instant Watch"

I'm just curious - What movies do you consider great?

Permalink Reply by Chris Dobbs on September 24, 2009 at 1:40pm

Heat, The Godfather I&II, Gladiator, Bourne Identity, The Big Lebowski, Rain Man, The Breakfast Club, Children of Men, E.T., Fargo, Good Will Hunting, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, Grapes of Wrath.

That is a short list of films I've rated 5 stars, and I named those ones because none of them are available through Instant Watch, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of them are at least a decade old.

Permalink Reply by Pihk on September 23, 2009 at 5:26pm

My guess...

Your guess is wrong.

Netflix doesn't decide what movies get to be put on IW. The studios do.

Anyhow, my Instant Queue is about 450 movies and they're all ones I actually want to watch. Explore a little...get outta your cinematic comfort zone

Permalink Reply by Chris Dobbs on September 24, 2009 at 1:32pm

I didnt realize the studios decide on the selection. I figured that Netflix had enough bargaining power - being the big dog that they are - to 'demand' whichever movies they want; but it does make sense that the studios would decide which titles they can profit from most, and keep those as DVD only.

I do explore genres, however I'm limited to English titles only because I watch these films while I'm at work on my dual-monitor computer - one screen for work, one for films!

In my original post I was simply venting that theres a ton of great films - including old ones, like Heat, Godfather, Gladiator, Bourne Identity, The Big Lebowski, Rain Man (random, I know) - that are probably well past the stage of making any considerable profits from DVD sales, while movies like "Bachelor Party in Bungalow of the Damned" (and many other 1.5-star rated movies) are made available to us weekly.

Im not saying there isn't a great selection on IW, because there is. I'm saying I wish Netflix would focus their efforts on making some of the great older titles available. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is in the Public Domain and I had to rent it through snail mail! That shouldn't be the case.

Permalink Reply by Knaldskalle on September 24, 2009 at 1:40pm

Heat, Godfather, Gladiator, Bourne Identity, The Big Lebowski, Rain Man

None of these are old.

Permalink Reply by Chris Dobbs on September 24, 2009 at 1:55pm

wow thanks for the quick response!

True, none of them are "old," other than Godfather, and definitely Mr. Smith Goes Washington.

But my point is that they are past the point of significant DVD profits. Whoever would have purchased these films would have already done so by 2009. The only way that a movie like Rain Man is going to make any money in 2009 is if they come out with a Special Edition that has deleted scenes, commentary, or other features the original didnt have. And even that won't make anyone but the diehard fans - who would already own a copy of the original DVD edition - go out and purchase this 'Special' one.

With the transition of TV programming to the internet now with sites like Hulu, its obvious that streaming video is the future. So why not jump on it with some of the classic older (but not old) films?

Permalink Reply by Pihk on September 24, 2009 at 2:12pm

With the transition of TV programming to the internet now with sites like Hulu, its obvious that streaming video is the future. So why not jump on it with some of the classic older (but not old) films?

Basically because the studios have to figure out how they can maximize their potential profits before giving away the keys to their vaults. I bet there are a lot of studio exec's who outright hate the "all you can eat buffet" style of Netflix...

Permalink Reply by ColdOne on September 24, 2009 at 2:53pm

Nothing is fucked here, dude. This is a very complicated case, lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous.

Those old titles (I'm comfortable with that term) are not past the point of making a profit on physical media. For example, they just released a new Lebowski DVD last year and while the extras might be a modest improvement, it's worth upgrading your old DVD because the old encoding was abysmal (especially on an HD TV). When it comes out on blu-ray I'm sure many more people will buy it.

In this case the studio gambled that they would make more off physical media than they would from selling the streaming rights and thus diluting their market for physical media. Other titles will have similar stories or it may be a gamble that a particular studio has made for their entire catalog rather than deciding each one individually.

You can blame whoever you like. The studios are to blame for not making their titles available cheaply, but Netflix is also to blame because they don't want to pay the high rates that some of these titles would command. Then, of course, you can blame you (the consumer) for not wanting to pay Netflix enough for the IW service so they can pay the studios what they want for their titles. There may be some inefficiencies and lag in this market, but for the most part everyone is acting in their own best interest and the market is working.

Most IW titles are second rate because that's where the market works. Those second rate titles can be bought cheaply by Netflix and there is at least some demand for them. If the titles you mentioned were available cheaply then Netflix would have no problem offering them.

Permalink Reply by Chris Dobbs on September 24, 2009 at 2:56pm

Far out man, far-f*cking out!!

thanks for the breakdown, and the very appropriate movie reference.

; )~

Permalink Reply by Knaldskalle on September 23, 2009 at 6:14pm

I am wondering why Netflix takes the time and effort to make unknown, straight-to-DVD, B-movies that nobody has ever heard of instead of taking well-known, award-winning, critically-praised popular movies that people actually want to watch?

And which movies do you think the studios are willing to risk DVD sales for? The straight-to-DVD B-movies that nobody has ever heard of or the award-winning, critically-praised popular movies that people actually want to watch?

Permalink Reply by Pihk on October 7, 2009 at 1:54pm

Ahhh, sweetie pie. I'm gonna miss ya.

Permalink Reply by The Real Uncle Bob on October 7, 2009 at 2:38pm

Nowadays, many - perhaps the majority - of US "feature films" never see the inside of a theater; films made for TV and cable, low budget indie dramas by just-graduated film students, the vast majority of horror films, and even many made-in-Hollywood, intended-for-theatrical movies just aren't exciting enough to draw a crowd to a theater, and get an unceremonious dump to DVD.

And most of these movies suck! Instant Watch is just reflecting the reality of more bad movies than good.

Of course, movies with max suckage cost Netflix the least to add to the instant roster. and anything that raises the total number of available titles is a plus; they love to tell you there's 17,000 titles available.

But it costs you nothing to ignore the bad ones and concentrate on the couple of thousand decent-or-better titles.

Just put the titles in "sortable list" view and click on the "rating" column header, the crap disappears from view.

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