Danny Daneau
Director
While a lot of us were sleeping, a little company named Netflix took our mailboxes by storm by offering access to obscure films and the luxury of home delivery. While at first Blockbuster scoffed at this little company with their online dreams, they would soon grow to fear them, before inevitably joining them.
Now it is a all out free for all smack down extreme. Netflix filed a lawsuit in April of 2006 against Blockbuster for patent infringement on some of the unique aspects of their online service. It was settled out of court on June 25th, 2007 and since then Blockbuster has closed 290 of their stores with plans to double that by the end of the year. Their goal to now focus dominantly on their online component.
Blockbuster is pulling punches by gaining rental rights to all films released by the Weinstein Company. Netflix is developing an edge by offering films to be streamed immediately from their website. The landscape for the rental marketplace is now in a drastic shift.
In the midst of all this, Netflix starts a independent distribution company named Red Envelope Entertainment. This seemed to be a promising opportunity for independent filmmakers such as myself, however questions have been raised lately on home committed the company is to finding unique independents. Read More at SpoutBlog.
From Netflix Media Center:
About Red Envelope Entertainment
Netflix (NFLX) is committed to providing consumers with access to the widest variety of films available. With over 65,000 titles, the Netflix catalog spans every major genre, from documentaries and dramas to comedies and how-to. To that end, Red Envelope Entertainment is acquiring and funding original content projects to increase consumer options and provide an innovative method for film distribution. While giving filmmakers a platform to expose less commercial projects to a broader audience, Red Envelope Entertainment looks to leverage its proprietary technology to offer subscribers unique and original content to which they wouldn’t otherwise have access. This original content initiative creates a national distribution channel for films and entertainment programming otherwise not available to broad audiences. For more information, visit www.netflix.com.
[tags]blockbuster, dvd, home entertainment, indies, netflix, red envelope, weinstein company[/tags]










