Moviegoers Rejoice! Movies on DVD Releasing Sooner!

I'm not a big moviegoer.  With very few exceptions, I'll wait until a movie comes out on DVD and rent it to watch at home, rather than spend the extra money to see it in the theater.  The up side is that it's cheaper to rent; the down side is that you wait forever for your favorites to be released on DVD, and by then you know the details because all your friends saw it in the theater and blabbed to you.

There have been signs over the past few years that the transition between a movie's theater release and its DVD release have been growing shorter.  But it took my new membership at Netflix to make me realize just how much that gap is shrinking.

With my Netflix account, I can flag movies that are only in theaters and have yet to make it to DVD.  I just save the films I want and shortly before they're scheduled to release on DVD, they move from my "Save" queue to my "Add" queue.  Then I can move them to the top of the list so I get first shot when they're available.

One of the movies I'd saved was "I Am Legend".  This movie debuted in theaters in December 2007.  Imagine my surprise to find out it will be out on DVD in March of 2008, only three months after its theatrical release.  And this is a popular movie that did well at the box office!

Because of that, I've been watching my "Save" queue.  I'm seeing a similar trend with other movies (see below):

Title:  August Rush
Release date:  Nov 2007
On DVD:  Mar 2008

Title:  Across the Universe
Release date:  Oct 2007
On DVD:  Mar 2008

Title:  Why Did I Get Married?
Release date:  Oct 2007
On DVD:  Feb 2008

Expect to see even more of a shortening of this gap as streaming video becomes more popular.  Companies like iTunes and Netflix are expected to have equipment that will allow members to view streaming video on their televisions as well as their computers.  Somehow I doubt the production companies are upset about this, because if they were losing money in the process, we'd certainly be hearing about it.

As for me, I'm a happy camper.  I can watch recently-released movies only a few months after they premiere in the theaters.  And I don't feel like I'm being left out because I'd rather save some money, watch a movie from the comfort of my own home, and be able to control my viewing experience via the remote control.  Isn't modern technology wonderful?!