Are stores not supposed to ship until the release date?
 

I placed an order last week at an etailer, and it looks like they are waiting until the release date of the movie to actually mail it.

I think that they should mail it at least a couple days early since it is going by media mail and will take a minimum of two days to get to me. Then again, it is possible, I suppose, that they don't have the movie in stock yet (it is a little obscure).

What do most stores do?

The only other time I've preodered something was last year, and that etailer mailed it to me ~ 10 days early; I received it ~ a week before the release date.

Generally speaking, the e-tailers ship early to arrive on or around release day. As always, YMMV.

I understand now.

I was going to order from DDD, but they had the DVD (Son of the Bride) listed as backordered, so I ordered from Digital Eyes because I don't want to wait for the DVD.

Sure enough, Digital Eyes didnt' mail it because they don't have it, they now list the DVD as backordered, while DDD lists it as in stock.