TMS Spotlight: Why I'm Bummed Netflix Is Ending DVD Rentals

(Miramax Films)

Excuse me while I present one of the most hipster articles I might have ever written. No, I’m not going to go on a rant about how ahead of the curve I was on a band or filmmaker or movie before they became popular. Instead, I’m going to go into depth on why I am so utterly bummed over Netflix announcing the dissolvement of their DVD rentals. For 21 years, Netflix’s DVD selection has been my main source for renting movies after my hometown’s Hollywood Video and Blockbuster both closed by 2002. At first, middle-school me missed being able to browse the aisles and physically take home the movie inside the specialized VHS or DVD cover for a week. There was something sentimental about walking through a video rental store with a movie playing on their TV while you try and find the film you’re in the mood for. But soon enough, I moved on to the new way of video rentals. DVD was already replacing VHS for home viewing anyway and at least I still got a movie or two to enjoy every week.

Flash forward ten years and suddenly this new concept called ‘streaming’ is available on Netflix and not much later, Amazon Prime and other similar sites/apps. Not only could you watch a movie on the internet legally with a subscription, but you could find a new show to boot. This time, I wasn’t so interested in crossing over to another rental source. I’m a traditionalist. Why would I watch a movie on my laptop when I have a nice TV set and DVD/Blu-ray player already? Plus I only watch old movies at home because they’re not playing in theaters anymore [i.e. the ‘intended’ way to see films]. I also quickly learned the streaming selections don’t have as much variety as the DVD section of Netflix because—surprise, surprise—a lot of less famous movies have only ever been released theatrically, on video and on DVD. So I continued watching features ‘the old fashioned’ way: in theaters, on TV and through Netflix DVDs. Until March 2020, when literally every theater near me went on hiatus and I would be forced to actually start streaming new films to continue my review columns for the next 18 months. I discovered that, sure, it was convenient and saved gas not having to visit my favorite indie theater; and it turned out once in a while there was a decent-to-good movie released online in between all the mediocre crap. Yet my stance remained. Theaters → DVDs/Blu-rays → TV syndication → streaming.

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

But now my viewing experience has been rocked yet again only three years later. As of April 2023, 25 years since Netflix’s inception, the company reveals they are discontinuing their DVD corner once summer ends. For years there have been rumors of this eventually happening and we’ve regularly gotten jokes of “Netflix still sends DVDs?” But in the back of my mind, I kept subconsciously telling myself, “No way would Netflix deny their older members who prefer physical media and want to keep up with older, obscure movies they haven’t seen yet.” Granted, the selection has gradually dipped over the years, but the option was still there. I could consistently find movies like Joseph H. Lewis’ Gun Crazy (1950), Jerry Skolimowski’s Deep End (1971), Robert Altman’s Nashville (1975) or Jerry Schatzberg’s Honeysuckle Rose (1980). But when my mom forwarded me the company’s e-mail statement to their members last Tuesday, my week was legitimately ruined.

No, it’s not just because I’m still borrowing my parents’ account, or that I’m one of those people who hates change. It really is because without Netflix, it’s going to be twice as hard to find overlooked pictures a part of film history. Redbox and higher-end distribution companies like Criterion and Mubi are now the only ones putting in the effort to keep alive indie/artsy classics, mid-budget hits, cult classics and everything in between that isn’t a top priority for studios. Years of me ignoring this possibility becoming a reality and foolishly telling myself hard media will always be relevant have finally come crashing down on me. 70 DVDs left in my Netflix queue that I’m mostly likely not going to finish in five months and over 40 in the ‘saved’ pile that are never going to be updated. I am just…crushed…defeated…