Slashdot Mirror
All the Good Netflix Movies Are in Canada and Brazil (gizmodo.com)
Netflix's movie library has declined over the last two years when cross referenced with IMDB's 250 movies list. Earlier this month, we learned that if you were in the United States, Netflix only had 31 of the 250 movies listed on the holy-grail of all movie databases. Gizmodo today reports that if you were in Brazil or Canada, that same library looks a lot better. From the report: According to analysis by both The Streaming Observer and AddonHQ, Canada and Brazil have the best content ecosystems, when it comes to movies on Netflix. But when it comes to good movies, Brazil is tops. The Streaming Observer found that Brazil had 85 movies from IMDb's Top 250 in its library. The site also put together a ridiculously huge chart if you want to see exactly which movies are available on each service. It's worth checking out. Brazil has movies that those of us in America could only dream of streaming, like The Godfather Part II, Fight Club, and The Empire Strikes Back. Mexico and Sweden have solid showings too, with 73 and 70 movies from the IMDb's Top 250 in their respective libraries.
I care about new content more than watching the same old stuff, which I only watch very rarely. Netflix has great original content for like $10 freaking bucks!
But that's just a guess. Of course that being said, Netflix is cutting back their shipping hubs. Those fuckers axed the one that was next day away from me and I have to use one a state over that takes 2 to 3 days each way.
...this grade B knock off is to try and fool you into believing that we carry shit you want to watch.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Blame Canada! Time to invade, or at least drone them, so we can exploit the natural richness of their Netflix offerings.
They should apply the same metrics to a torrent site like thepiratebay, might be interesting...
Keep those movies in Mexico and Brazil.
The TV has an off button for a reason. Go do something instead of crying about being entertained all the time.
Seriously, I know we only pay a fraction of what people pay for cable. But, the least you could do is stream us all the same content. I've been a Netflix customer for like 10-12 years. Give me Star Wars and Godfather, damnit!
Funny, because as a canadian, i know several people who have VPNs soley to watch american netflicks. I dont personally watch so i cant compare it but I always thought the american library was more comprehensive becuase everyone always wants to get american netflix (which you need an american CC for and VPN). Seems like a lot of effort, maybe someone who has both could comment on the differences.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
At $10/mo, I find plenty to enjoy whenever I use Netflix, so I keep paying.
Being a spelling & grammar Nazi is a sign you do not poses the intelligence to contribute to the conversation
As anyone who is a citizen of either Canada or Brazil (which would include myself and one of my colleagues) could tell you, the main reason is that both Canada and Brazil have major film subsidies and content requirements for any broadcaster of any type, and both countries produce many award winning films.
Netflix has no choice in the matter. They are required to provide a certain level of movies from the host country to be able to operate there. The fact that these countries subsidize their film industries and produce high quality award winning films is a direct result of this.
Regulation is good. Lack of regulation leads to the really bad choices on Netflix in the USA, for example.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Brazil has movies that those of us in America could only dream of streaming, like The Godfather Part II, Fight Club, and The Empire Strikes Back.
While this is a list of good movies, I'm not sure this is the sort of stuff I'd like Netflix to prioritize. Some people like the new content showing up on streaming services, especially "original" content. I like some of that, but what first made me love Netflix's DVD service years ago was the more obscure stuff -- discovering good movies I hadn't seen before. Even Netflix's streaming service when it first came out had a great selection of old films (usually "classics," but not the most popular ones) as well as really great more recent ones (though not many new releases). I first watched films like Pan's Labyrinth and The Orphanage on Netflix "Instant watch," while rediscovering old classics from more obscure Buster Keaton and Chaplin films to old TV series like Yes, Minister and the classic Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett.
Most of that stuff is gone. And frankly, I don't really want to watch this stuff again. People who love these movies probably already have purchased them either on DVD or through some streaming, so they'll permanently have them available.
And actually, do I really want to watch Godfather Part II again? Sorry, I think it's overrated. (Yes, this is just my opinion.) The two narratives are disconnected, and while I love the early De Niro period piece, the other story is too dark. I love the original Godfather (and have watched it quite a few times), but I sometimes wish I could just except the early period stuff from part II and watch that separately. Fight Club? Are there lots of people who actually WANT to watch that repeatedly? It's a fantastic movie, but it goes in the category of things that are just not pleasant to watch again. And, sorry, but if you're a fan who wants to see The Empire Strikes Back over and over, you probably already own some special collector's edition. (Or, if you're a TRUE fan, you've probably sought out the "Despecialized" version before Lucas messed with it.)
I'm not saying it wouldn't be good to have such classic films as options on Netflix. But I know they'd be really expensive to have available, and they wouldn't be my priority.
I'm shocked by this american media companies seemed to more frequently take the position of "Fuck you Canada"
Sorry
Because people in Canada who subscribe to Netflix have been complaining for a while that the Netflix Canada library sucks compared to the US library and have been using VPNs and other tricks to access the US catalogue.
I live in Canada and the only decent content I've found on Netflix has been TV series and documentaries. The movies are truly awful, for the most part.
Canadians use VPNs to get around the fact that choice in the Canadian Netflix library sucks and the American library has much more.
Since Netflix started blocking VPNs, their subscribership in Canada has been pissed, and they have been losing customers.
Canadians complain that all of the good TV shows are only available in the US.
If by good you mean reality tv following rednecks around the woods making a harsh living and stirring up the drama, ya US has it all.
Just torrent from the pink or green skulls to avoid malware. Bonus points for using a VPN.
I went thru the list and frankly they can keep most of them. I would rather Netflix concentrated on a top 250 of all time favorite leading men and leading women and make their catalogs accessible. As the population ages in the USA, this may be a better method to improve the offerings.
As for the "original content" on Netflix, I find it to be little better than the original content on any other network. Right now they have a couple original hits but each of the traditional networks can say the same.
Ironically, a lot of good Sci-fi series are filmed in Canada!
I wonder if most of these have the portuguese dubbing in Brazil.
Like it or not, it's a safe bet to assume that many brazilian would prefer/needs this, rendering the available content useless.
The majority of Enterprise captains are not American.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
no time of day is not too early to read that horse shit.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
How come we never get to complain about Amazon Prime? Every day there is another article about Netflix, and the same shills post the same comments about the quality of their original content...
Is the difference in the top 250 list for the target country or the netflix content available in the target country?
I have about 325 movies in my queue and 120 TV Shows. I like re-watching old movies. Plus, as you age you forget details, movies and music become foggy, and that's why I enjoy re-watching old tv shows and movies it's like watching them for the very first time. I have seen crackle have new movies released once in a while. Netflix and Crackle are still better than regular broadcast TV. Personally, I'l complain and cancel when Netflix replaces half or the majority of movies and tv shows with their own content. Not a fan of their own content they are bland, boring, just plain lackluster. DVD's and Blu-Ray won't go away anytime soon.
Orange is the New Black and House of Cards have had 4 seasons each and we're constantly seeing new shows with big budgets and high production values.
Movie fans have already seen Godfather and Empire Strikes back. They'll have a library of DVDs at their disposal. They're not really a huge market. And those that there are often prefer something that they haven't seen.
TV shows are where it's at.
Are they dubbed into English or do they have subtitles? :-)
Yes, there are lots of good movies I've already seen on Canadian Netflix. So what?
At least in the US, movies come to, and leave Netflix, all the time. Not Netflix's fault - the stupid content owners, still anchored in a 20th century mindset, keep playing the silly game of artificial scarcity. As long as they keep at it, piracy will flourish.
The US shows are made in Canada and sold back to Canada as an import :) Win on the low production costs and win again with the full price for the content when sold back into Canada.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
And how many are available in Canada? The icon is a Canadian flag. Title says Canada and Brazil.
I get 2+ discs weekly - next day shipping most of the time. It is only when there are weekday holidays that things suck. Once in a while, they'll ship a "short wait" title to me AND another title the same day. I live on the opposite side of town from the shipping center (about 75 min drive away w/o traffic).
There was a time when shipping took 2 days, but that lasted about 2 months. I was about to drop NF completely over it.
Once in a while, I get home early enough that I can return the DVD the same day it arrived.
I'm a DVD subscriber mainly to have access to their huge DVD back library. The streaming list is tiny in comparison. OTOH, many not-great TV series don't get discs and will never be available on NF. No interest at all in Bluray.
I've gotten close to depleting my list a few times, but always find more junk to watch. Plus they have some Japanese Anime.
I used to try to put 2 DVDs into a return folder, but learned quickly that 1 DVD to each return was best.
Because a majority of Canadians pay a VPN to get Yankee Netflix.
Not sure if it counts in this discussion but also TV programs. I just returned from a 2 week stay in Germany. There were two english channels on most hotel TV's. One of which was "Russia Today" (boring). So I turned to NetFlix where I found "The Good Wife". After watching a number of episodes - I got interested. On returning to the US I can no longer watch the remaining episodes. So it's buy the DVD's or circumvent NetFlix's asinine restrictions. Is there an alternative to NetFlix? The only other program I've found of interest on NetFlix as of late is "That 70's Show".
I tried to VPN up to Canada for the streaming, but I had trouble translating the movies since everything the actors said ended in "eh?"