What's up with the Blockbuster exclusivity rental bullshit?

Factual Questions
1

The skinflinting Weinsteins pulled it once, saying they would only release DEATH PROOF at Blockbuster. Yet, I rented it at my independent video store. The DVDs made it clear that on the opening screen, the only thing I saw was “This DVD is intended for sale only.” Then it happened again with PLANET TERROR. My indy video store stocked the item and this they hung a sign below their PLANET TERROR rental display that read: “This movie is NOT an exclusive with out competitor.” Yet, when I rented that movie, the DVD opened with “This DVD is intended for sale only.”

What the fuck is going on here?

#1. Why would the Weinsteins go exclusively with Blockbuster when that closes out 90% of the fuckin rental market?
#2. How does this not create a boycott of every Weinstein movie ever produced by indy video stores? Hey, they make sweetheart deals with other stores and don’t let me in on the action? Fuck you. I’ll boycott your studio’s movies for two years.
#3. Why would the Weinsteins so alienate 90% of the other videostores in existence? It’s obvious everyone who wasn’t Blockbuster had to buy this shit retail.

2

More importantly, is this shit legal? Can movies that are intended for sale be classified as rentals?

3

Just some more info for you. I rented (and loved) both from Movie Gallery.

4

Blockbuster’s market share is about 35%, not 10%.

Ever heard of cutting of your nose to spite your face? If people want to see those films, and the indy stores won’t carry them, that just means more market share for Blockbuster.

I’m sure they buy it wholesale. And as video stores often sell used films once the rentals slack off, in the long run it may not cost them much to buy them anyway.

5

The indy video stores are committing a crime. The license to rent a copy of a movie costs much, much more than buying it at wal-mart.

6

Is this a Quentin Tarantino entitled Grindhouse: Death Proof flick about a guy who “uses his revved up car as a killing machine”?

If yes, NETFLIX has it.

So I added it to my queue.

Didn’t add the other one. But I might.

7

BarnOwl: The two are meant to be seen as a “double feature”. Planet Terror, followed by Death Proof.

8

Thank you, Vetbridge!

I had placed DP at the top of my queue, so after reading your post, I went back to NETFLIX intending to add PT to my queue. They “said” it was already added! I quickly scanned all 104 DVDs, but with no luck.

I’ll check it more closely, however. Might as well have them both come in at the same time!

9

Yuk.

PT is now at 103 in my queue. However, there’s a 'long wait" for it.

The other one is immediately available. NETFLIX has no respect for double headers.

10

BarnOwl- also, be sure to get both discs for each. The special features disc is as good as the movie in each case.

11

Thanks again. I’ll inquire at NF.

12

No no no. First sale doctrine. We went through all of this back in the 80’s when studios unsuccessfully sought to stop the renting of videos. If anything, Blockbuster pays $2 for each DVD while mom-and-pop pay $20 each. On the other hand, Blockbuster agrees to pay the studios some significant percentage of the rental to the studio. The “exclusivity” would be that other large chains with the same type of purchase/revenue sharing agreement don’t get the movie on those same terms for a fixed amount of time. They’d still be free to run out and pay retail in order to rent them, though, assuming they don’t have an existing contract prohibiting this (may be one of the catches of using the low-cost-but-share-revenue scheme used by the national chains).