I found out today that Blockbuster is having problems with Universal and will not carry Land of the Dead. After a short chat with my local Blockbuster clerk I discovered why they only had ten copies of Unleashed and will not even carry some new popular upcoming titles.

I hope they get it sorted out as I purchased a two rental a day pass from them and would like to have a choice of all popular latest releases.

Karma. You're being punished for making a purchase from Blockbuster.

-JP

Sorry to go off topic a bit, but a similar thing I've noticed. In Canada, The Movie Network seems to be airing very few, if any, more recent Universal releases. I'm talking movies like Dawn of the Dead (2005), Shaun of the Dead, Chronicles of Riddick, Wimbledon, etc. These movies ended their run on pay per view months ago, yet they're not showing up on TMN. Anyone know of a reason why?

yeah my blockbuster had 10 copies of unleashed too but did not put them out till 2 days later.... kicking and screaming was not put out till this past saturday...

There's other weird things going on at Blockbuster. I found out that they will not be pulling any copies of Sin City to sell as previously viewed. The person I know that works there said that the studio is demanding that copies be sent back instead of being sold.

There is a thread in the store forum that cites reports that Blockbuster must pay in cash for all of its new titles (due to concerns about them going under). Maybe Universal is particularly strict in this manner and this policy is preventing Blockbuster from purchasing many copies.

EDIT - Here is the link to that thread: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....ht=blockbuster

Blockbuster is in heaps of financial trouble. As mbs pointed out, some studios are making them pay cash for movies. I think they're struggling to compete with DVD sales and with Netflix continuing to grow it's user database.

I could never find my favorite Universal movie, "Henry And June" at Blockbuster

check out the home media retailing site for a ton of good articles on blockbuster.

long story short is, blockbuster is in the red. They owe everyone money. Studios are concerned that they will not recoup any losses if/when blockbuster finally falls. So they must pay up front for all titles. Since they have no capitol, only liquid assets they cannot get certain titles. You will be seeing less blue boxes in the future.

My local store stopped using the blue/white Blockbuster covers on the boxes and just puts a barcode on the regular cover/case.

So, I'm already not seeing as many blue boxes as in the past.

Please post follow-ups in the store thread mentioned above.