Here is your list of movies coming this week to Redbox. What are you waiting to see? Is anything missing?
Inglourious Basterds Starring: Brad Pitt,Eli Roth,Diane Kruger
Genre:
Release Year: 2009
movie details / trailer
Other Man Starring: Antonio Banderas,Laura Linney,Liam Neeson
Genre:
Release Year: 2008
movie details / trailer
Sicario: Ejecucion de Mando Starring: Luis Fernando Pea,Tomas Goros
Genre:
Release Year: 2009
movie details / trailer
The Hangover Starring: Bradley Cooper,Zach Galifianakis,Ed Helms
Genre:
Release Year: 2009
movie details / trailer
Wizards of Waverly: The Movie Starring: Selena Gomez,Jake T. Austin,David Henrie
Genre:
Release Year: 2009
movie details / trailer
Let’s see Inglorious Basterds is Universal and Hangover is Warner
So they won’t be available til mid or next week.
As of 9:00 GMT December 15, 2009…
Redbox has the following additional available title:
Sicario: Ejecucion de Mando
http://www.redbox.com/Titles/AvailableTitles.aspx#Detail&page=1&sort=1&titleId=2987&pageSize=10&genreID=-1
These Spanish language releases seem to be targeted to matching demographic areas, as it’s not available in all searchable regions.
The following titles are the *only* new releases widely available as of this post:
G-Force
Megafault
Other Man
Wizards of Waverly: The Movie
As of 20:13 GMT Wednesday December 16, 2009…
Inglourious Basterds and The Hangover
are available for rent at kiosks in my searchable region.
yep probably won’t be available till Friday at earliest.
thur eve late in MD!!!! fine with me!!!
IMDB, where you only get one comment per page. WTF?
Looks like they hired a real professional.
Already got G-Force, Inglorious Bastards, and The Other Man on the way from Netflix. They didn’t send The Hangover even though I had it ahead of the others in my que. Gonna have to get this at either Redbox or Blockbuster.
Same here. The Hangover is still sitting at the top of my queue over at Netflix and I have two open spots left. Looks like I’ll be chasing down what few copies turn up later this week at my local Redboxes…
I guess it depends on the machine guys…some codes worked for me but not my friend…some codes worked for my cousin but not me…I know it’s frustrating to go to the Redbox & the codes don’t work, it frustrates me too sometimes. But I’m finding that the codes that are words or phrases & don’t contain numbers (BREAKROOM,DVDONME) work the best.
g force only movie i would even try to rent this week
At least there is now a release date for SAW 6… JAN 26 2010 : )
OK. So G-Force, Hangover and Inglorious are all available at my Redbox’s around town, but they’re all checked out. The Redbox site officially showed them around 1 a.m. central time, but as soon as I went to reserve, they were immediately all checked out…..(except for G-Force, it can be reserved) so is that because these titles are not REALLY available? OR is it because people sit online and immediately reserve every last copy the first second they are listed, OR is it something else all together?
I know it isn’t because people were actually at the kiosks at midnight in the cold, fog and rain, lined up to rent every copy of these three movies at the 20 kiosks in our city.
So what else could it be?
Help me understand, please.
Thanks!
Josh
Josh
This is one of the many “redbox-speak” issues [like no late fees], IT’S A COMEON!!
Unless you see that the title you would like to rent/reserve is listed as *available* somewhere in you region search, consider it **unavailable**!
Depending on the studio source, many titles are not available on release day and have to be obtained through retail channels before kiosk stocking.
redbox’s motive is to get you to reserve [pre-pay] a title *before* it is stocked for no other reason than to insure that you *won’t* use a promo code.
While I agree that the “Checked out” language may be a bit confusing, redbox certainly doesn’t want you to reserve/pre-pay for a movie before it is stocked. In fact, it does not allow this behavior at all. You simply CANNOT reserve a movie that is not in the kiosk at the time you go to reserve it.
Honestly, I don’t think it is all that hard to understand. Either the movie is there, or it is not. It would be quite difficult technically to not show a title in their online system just because it wasn’t in the box at the time. Could they wait a few days to add the delayed titles? Maybe, but there are likely some kiosks that get them the same day, so that wouldn’t make a lot of sense either.
Overall, I think Redbox has found a good balance of reporting what is available and dealing with the delays. Could they improve? Probably, but there is room for improvement with just about everything.
Michael–
I should have been clearer…
Instead of:
redbox’s motive is to get you to reserve [pre-pay] a title *before* it is stocked for no other reason than to insure that you *won’t* use a promo code.
I should have posted:
redbox’s motive is to get you to reserve [pre-pay] a title *before* it is WIDELY AVAILABLE for no other reason than to insure that you *won’t* use a promo code.
My bad!
I can understand your point, but you are still making a statement that is untrue, and I don’t want anyone to be confused.
Redbox DOES NOT allow you to reserve a movie it if it not available at the kiosk you are wanting to rent it from. There is simply no way to reserve (and pay for) a title that is not in the kiosk.
Reserving a movie on the website is a great feature, and of course you can’t use a promo code to do so. When I am looking for a specific, newer movie I will never bother trying to use a promo code to get it. As soon as I see it available, I will reserve it online. For $1, you can’t go wrong.
So yes, Redbox wants to make money, and uses fairly common marketing tactics to do this, including advertising movies that are new and may not be available to get you down to the kiosk. This is similar to Blockbuster advertising new releases, even though they may all be checked out. Once you get there, many times you will rent something else so not to go home with nothing.
Redbox – with their online system – makes it much easier for the consumer to find titles they want without making a trip, which does cost redbox money in incremental revenue. But, they do it because it is convenient and good for their customers.
How can I criticize your post when it’s to defend your $.99 software for the Jesus phone.
This post has nothing to do with the Inside Redbox iPhone app. Where did you get that idea?
I am just trying to make sure people aren’t confused into believing that redbox allows them to pay for a movie that is not available.
You must be learning your double speak Michael from redbox.
How can a title be checked out if it hasn’t been stocked in the first place?
Why are there no *reply* links to your posts? What are you afraid of?
Maybe you should revamp you site to make sure no one can post!
I see reply links to his posts – you even used one in your previous reply to him.
Oh, look, there’s no reply link to YOUR post!
If you paid attention, you’d notice there are no reply links for anyone once the original post has been replied to (indented) enough times.
Inglorious Bastards and The Hangover are the only two new releases not at my local kiosks yet.
Inglorious Bastards and The Hangover are all “Checked Out” in all of Long Island. I even checked Montauk, NY which is in the end of Long Island and it shows nothing and extends to Redbox in Connecticut (like i’m going to swim the Long Island Sound) and none of them have either movie.
Too bad Redbox is getting screwed by the movie companies.
In essence then, these machines I am seeing which list the two titles, Hangover and Inglorious really don’t have those titles inside the machine at this time. They’re just listed so that when they do stock them in, and I see one available, I will rent it.
That’s pretty lame actually.
I mean if it isn’t in the machine and not actually available to rent, then it shouldn’t be listed.
This might be why Blockbuster doesn’t do the reserve thing…..? So people don’t feel like they’re being wonked with.
Thanks Vernon.
PS . what’s it like using a computer in the afterlife? ;-)
re: what’s it like using a computer in the afterlife?
We don’t use ’em!
Keep checking redbox kiosks on-line in your region. By Thursday or Friday 5-10% should have a copy of Hangover on Inglorious Basterds.
COOL – so you just think it and it posts to the websites…..nice. Way better than Apple software and hardware I’d say! ;)
You are right, as the redbox website states, those titles are not available for rent, which is why you see the “checked out” language. I think it makes pretty good sense to do it that way, but can understand how it could cause confusion.
If you have an iPhone/iPod Touch, the new version of our Inside Redbox Pro app makes this a lot simpler for you. It allows you to “monitor” movies you specify and see when they show up at nearby kiosks.
I am also thinking of adding this functionality to this site, too. Stay tuned!
So they’re not even really in the machines yet then, correct?
I’m seeing it this way: This is the manner in which they keep people checking online to reserve, so when the first ones are delivered or loaded up, etc. then people will immediately reserve them for rental and not use free codes at the kiosk. Not just for that reason, but you see what I’m getting at.
Thanks for the reply.
I could not have said it better ;)!
Yes, please add it to the site. It would be a great help.
“Checked out” is a lie. An item cannot be checked out if it was never stocked to begin with. If the movies are not available, it should read ‘not available.’ The faked cover art isn’t fooling anybody.
The vast majority of Redboxes will not have these two titles AT ALL.
I agree with you the that term “Checked Out” is not the best, and it is very likely that will get changed soon with redbox reading these comments.
“Not Available” is definitely better, as it covers all cases. “Checked out” does work for MOST cases, though, and I am sure that is what they were thinking when they did it.
More double speak!
“They lied to me”
Geez… drama major?
Is “checked out” accurate? NO.
Is “they lied to me” (to support some conspiracy) accurate? NO.
Somewhere between “inaccurate” and “manipulative paranoid fantasy where they’re out to get me and force some action” is the truth. Relax, take deep breaths, and before you know it, Redbox will realize due to an ongoing situation (the litigation) they can’t stall any longer and have their programmers add a 3rd option (“Coming Soon”?) Their website gets millions of hits a day and is a little more complicated than updating your personal blog – making even slight changes takes more time and effort than you could ever imagine.
Regardless, take comfort in knowing that ANYTHING other than a tag that indicates a movie IS available – no matter how they report that status – simply means it ISN’T available.
I wait outside at 12:00am every Tuesday.
You’re joking, right?
I guess if one were a night person, lived right around the corner from or next door to a machine, it wouldn’t be hard to believe though…….
you would think that since i can buy bootleg (newly released in the theatre)dvds to own at 2 for $5(while they are still at the major theatres) in front of a k-mart or target,etc. (since redbox doesnt have it, people are buying them up)studios would try hard to get new releases in redbox on time.(if they bought a copy for $2.50 they arent gonna rent it after they own it!)so the studios arent helping anyone but bootleggers in store fronts to make money(i see them sell outta their car in the parking lot),they are hurting us,not redbox(redbox will still make money & go on to grow)so we go to redbox on tuesday at 6:00 a.m. in the cold to find out the movie didnt get released?they need a new idea,we need’em back on top!Studios-get off the greedkick or bootleggers get $$$, you get zero-$0.
but Bootlegs are crap. I woudn’t buy them if you paid me to. Who wants a movie this is filmed in a theater with people walking in front of the screen and people talking and laughing.
When I checked Redbox.com this morning, Inglorious Bastards and Hangover was not at my local kiosks. Lucky me though, at 1pm I had to go to the grocery store and there was the Redbox guy putting in these two movies in the kiosk outside the grocery store! I even had to wait for him to finish putting them in and he then pressed the Inglorious Bastards movie button for me! Such a nice Redbox guy :-)
Did you ask him if he just bought the movies at Walmart?
I seriously thought of asking him if he just bought the movies at Walmart, Target, or Best Buy as all 3 of these stores are within 1 mile of the Redbox kiosk he was putting the movies in. Thing is I saw and talked with this same Redbox guy around 6 months ago when he was cleaning and stocking a different kiosk. At that time, I asked him when exactly did new releases become available in my local kiosks. He told me, at that time, he stocks new releases up to 2 weeks ahead of time but the kiosks are programmed to rent them out on the correct new-release day. Being that things have changed between Redbox and the studios, and the Redbox guys now have to make special trips all over town to try to buy/fill the kiosks on new release day, I thought it best not to ask the Redbox guy and get him anymore irked than what he probably was by reminding him how he has to go around buying the dvds to make them available–especially since I used the promo code Acme26 to gobble up the new release Inglorious Bastards that he just put in the kiosk :-)
picked up G force and ITS ALIVE (finally found ITS ALIVE at a redbox even though it came out 3 or 4 months back i think , that is how hard it was to find it in a redbox ) used 26 code to get it freee : )
i think with personal codes and the 4 free codes here i think i have only spent 1 buck all month at redbox
But I still don’t have a clear answer.
First off, the Redbox site didn’t update exactly at midnight. (and never has that I have seen) It was almost 1 am before Hangover, G-Force and Inglorious actually showed up as being “in stock”.
I wasn’t more than 30 seconds after the site updated in trying to reserve my copies. By the time I logged in to reserve and searched the locations near me to reserve, they ALL read as checked out.
In my mind I can’t believe there were so many people sitting up at 1 a.m. in front of their computers waiting to reserve a one dollar movie, that within seconds all 20 local kiosks were “reserved out” … and I know they weren’t standing at the machines renting them immediately either.
SO – unless the distributors were at every machine Monday at some point, pre-loading the Tues releases or right there at midnight loading them, then these new releases are truly NOT available because they’re NOT in the machines.
That is the question I am trying to get answered — are the really hot new releases really in the machines come midnight Mondays or not? I do not believe they are.
I’ve also somewhat confirmed this by hanging around a couple of the busier machines at 9pm on Weds nights and have never found anyone returning the new releases from Tuesday……..
Hangover and Inglorious were delayed due to the studios. G-Force showed as being available in all the kiosks I searched early Tuesday. I don’t know why you saw something different.
Stocking the kiosks *usually* takes place well before 12:01am Tuesday morning. According to another poster here, he was told by a RB employee that discs are sometimes installed weeks before the release date. Discs are sitting in the machine, waiting for the software to say, “It’s Tuesday – I’m available!”
If a movie is being delayed by the studio, Redbox employees have to buy copies of the movie locally on the day of release and then load the machines. For my zip code, they become available mid-morning on Thursdays. I suppose that’s when they visit my part of town on their route.
The *presence* of a title on Redbox.com should not be equated with being “in stock.” Redbox wants to have them, but some will be delayed until they and the studios kiss and make up.
I disagree that Redbox should not show the delayed titles. If I visited the website on Tuesday and didn’t see a title listed, to me that would indicate they didn’t intend to ever stock it.
Nothing in Long Island yet. I wonder how many local employees they have and how many Redbox locations they are responsible for.
I did some zip code searches and started with NYC and there are no movies there either. There are some movies in New Jersey and I also saw one location in the Bronx that had one of he movies.
Maybe they move west to east.
Looks like my local person is stocking the delayed movies a day early. I’ve been searching for Hangover & Inglorious periodically over the last couple hours wondering if I could track the employee’s route. Looks like he started at Walmart. I can see the path that was taken, but apparently not all kiosks along the way were stocked. There is one intersection where RB is at a grocery store, McDonalds & Walgreens, but only Walgreens got the new movies.
Hey Josh,
I think “The Turnip” answers were pretty good here, but just thought I would add a bit to it.
As for the titles not updating until 1am, I am guess you are on the east coast, right? I believe redbox updates their titles at midnight Central Time. If you went straight to a kiosk, I think they are generally released at midnight kiosk time, but online they had to choose a timezone and stick with it for all.
You are correct that certain titles (from Fox, Universal and Warner) are NOT stocked in the kiosks right at midnight. It is interesting that you saw them as available for a few seconds before they changed to “checked out”. Not sure why that was, but perhaps it is just related to how redbox updates their system.
So, you are correct that SOME of the new releases are not actually in the kiosk at midnight on release day, specifically the ones from the studios listed above. This is all due to the studios being difficult, and is why redbox has lawsuits against them.
Hope that helps!
Actually I’m Central time. And I didn’t ever see the movies with an actual “rent” icon. Just went from not being listed at all, and then when they did finally show up on the home page about 45 minutes after midnight, they were immediately “Checked Out”… Except for G-Force. It was available.
So I didn’t know that about the distributors having to buy the movies themselves, etc.
It kind of makes sense now. I’ll just have to learn how to work the system as I go along to get the titles as soon as I can when they’re available…otherwise, it’s Piratebay for sure. ;-)
And let me also state, this has nothing to do with trying to get free movies. I am a business owner and I am in business to make money. Same as Redbox. I have used codes, but only when they have been given to me by Redbox.
Talking to a Redbox rep the other day on the phone and he told me he was amazed at people who will call asking for a credit or refund because a DVD wouldn’t play….he said he looks at their history and sees like 80 free rentals, 10 paid retals and the person on the phone is busting his chops for a $1 refund for a scratched disc. I think that’s wrong and I would never do that.
i dont see anything wrong with someone calling up saying
HEY MY MOVIE DIDNT WORK and i want a refund even if they had 100 free rentals that month and paid for 1….
people with netflix report issues when their dvds dont work …same with blockbuster and most of all the other video stores…
now since july 2009 renting around 20 per month (mostly free) i have only ran into this issue once… I think people who rent from Redbox take better care of the movies then people renting from a video store / netflix ….. I even rented a spongebob movie from redbox a few weeks after it came out (was out of the box the first week i checked) and the disc still looked brand new… Rented a spongbob movie off a local video store 3 days after it came out and it was scratched all to hell …
probally in a 5 month period from redbox 1 non working disc (scratched)
in the same 5 month period from a video store i would probally ran into 10 to 15 easy
long story short though paid or free if the movie is busted i do report them.. if they give me a credit good but if they dont i dont wine about it (i do ask in the first email movie dont work want a refund) if they send me a code good.. if not i dont keep emailing them saying WHERES MY CODE
Agree with slidecage…code used or not, I’d still report if I got a scratched movie that didn’t play. AND, zillions of promo codes used or not, I’d think the Redbox rep should give you a free code not just for your inconvenience, but for the fact that you reported a defective dvd which then allows Redbox to get a Redbox service guy to that return kiosk and remove the defective dvd from further inconveniencing other customers who might rent it.
Most stores will offer the customer a different copy of the same movie when the customer complains about an unplayable disc.
You’d be surprised how many just end up saying ” i saw most of it & it wasn’t any good or I saw most of it, it skipped scene (insert #).
Maybe Redbox should offer the customer a code to rent a different copy of the movie that they were saying doesn’t work.
That’s how Netflix handles it, too. When you report a damaged disc, they ask if you want a replacement or to get the next disc in your queue. If you get the replacement, it ships ASAP, otherwise they wait until you send back the damaged disc. It’s a smart way to keep people for falsely reporting damage just to get a freebie.
I rented
Giant shark vs giant octopuss off a video store few months back.. Movie was 1 hour 22 mins long.. movie worked up to 1 hour and 2 mins and it just froze. took the movie back and told them They offered me 2 free movies for the problem… They couldnt offer me a replacement cause they only had one copy of the movie… i was just telling them the movie froze so i didnt get charged… i mostly just report them so i dont get blamed later..They said 90% of movies that get scratched are people playing these movies on the ps3 and xbox 360 (i guess standing the machines up on the side scratches the hell out of the movies) . Funny thing is where the movie froze that shark was jumping out of the water with his mouth open : ) (i did get to see the ending later when sci fi showed this awful movie)
Actually slide, it is most often the XBox 360 and it doesn’t cause scratches, what they are referring to is sometimes called the Ring of Death. It puts a large circular ring around the disc, usually about 3/4 of the way to the outer edge of the disc.
A good DVD repair machine can remove the damage usually though,.
Scratches are mostly caused by lazy renters who can’t put the DVD back in the case when they are done watching it. Instead they just toss it to the side and insert the next DVD into the machine. A day or two later when they go to put the DVDs back in the cases, it has usually been knocked around a few times and the easily scratchable surface of the DVD has one or two additional scratches. Multiply that by how many people have rented the movie and you know where the scratches come from.
It has been my experience though that the DVD is more affected by finger prints than scratches. DVD players come with built in error correction that handles the majority of minor scratches.
Let me rephrase that. It wasn’t that he was amazed that they asked for a credit, he said it was how indignant and nasty they can be when they call in demanding a credit because the disc didn’t work. I have no issue with someone getting their money back due to technical problems with the product, not at all.
The point is, people take advantage and almost EXPECT to be given free rental codes, etc. like it’s their right or something, and then call up the Redbox guys and cuss and spit and hiss because a disc didn’t work and get nasty about getting their credit for that 1 movie when they’ve paid for a total of 10 out of their 200 received for free.
Just making a point at how petty people can be and how they don’t think about the fact that companies are in business to make money, not give everything away.
I bought the 2 disc Inglourious Basterds dvd yesterday. I saw the film in theaters on opening day and loved it! Quentin Tarantino is easily my favorite movie director!
The only movie that came out this week that I will rent is The Hangover, which I just reserved online at a local redbox that has it in
CODE: ACME26 – Another HIT!!! working for all cards.
rented “Public Enemies” and other new ones, yipeee!
rented Inglourious Basterds last night…. They need to put somewhere that 30 or 40% of this movie is SUBTITLED… though this would be a good movie from my grandfather but the words were so small they could not even read them … and some of the words blended into the background and was very hard to read…. was an okay movie for 1.00 but would been upset if i paid 4.00 to rent it via blockbuster
Slidecage, ABSOLUTELY AGREED! We downloaded the movie via Netflix and I was really unhappy with the subtitles. They didn’t stay on the screen long enough to read half of them, and they used yellow text and had it at the bottom of the screen. It was too small to see and it blended in, in particular the tavern in the basement scene. The movie was excellent, thoroughly enjoyed it, but they should have done something about the subtitling when they mastered the DVD.
I just reserved the only copy of Hangover out of the 20 locations. I went back and checked, no more available. So some of them are out there. I’ve seen the movie but the disc we had didn’t have the complete ending with the pictures they took during their “blackout” period … so we never got to see what they did while they were drunk. Make sure you watch the credits all the way through to see the rest of the pictures….it completes the movie.
My copy had the photos at the end (I watched the widescreen version – how about you?)
Of course, since RB is having to buy copies locally, it is very possible that various editions are being purchased and stocked.
i watched full screen and it had the pictures at the end … better then i thought it would of been
Maybe Josh got a different edition then. OR he just happened to get a new-but-damaged disc that skipped the end credits.
And what about the local video store that these redbox’s are putting out of business…does anyone care about them?? I’ve owned a video store for 16 years and now they put a redbox at the grocery store across the street. I have to pay rent and how does one compete with that??
Sue, I can’t imagine that anybody here is unsympathetic to your situation, but what do you want from us? Should we keep buying gas-guzzling SUVs after discovering that a fuel-sipping hybrid is available at a lower price and fits our needs better? Should we not take advantage of a new developments simply to artificially bolster an older way of doing things?
I feel empathy for your predicament and hope you can find a way to compete. But no matter what, you have to acknowledge that your industry has changed radically. I hope you can find a way to keep your business relevant and don’t suffer the fate of the horse-drawn buggy.
My dear Videosue, I wish there was an easy answer for someone that owns a video store – but with being able to rent movies directly online from cable, the ease of ordering from NetFlix and now the RedBox machines, it’s little wonder why you haven’t already looked for or found another means of making a living! If you don’t change with the times, you close your doors. I use to own a computer store which at one time did a few million in revenue… two years later we closed our doors thanks to all the big box suppliers. You probably bought a Dell PC and helped put someone else out of business. That’s our philosophy here in the USA. Why do you thing we owe China BILLIONS of dollars? How much do each of us buy of chinese goods? It’s a disgrace what we’ve done – and continue to do – to make or save a buck.
Sorry, Videosue, I get carried away. I don’t wish you anything but the best, however, like Turnip said, things in your industry have changed dramatically. I spent 23 years selling technology at different levels – i now own a petsitting / dog walking business. I’m a lot happier than I ever was but my wife earns much more than I do now. I hope you can find a way to compete and have some success. Maybe rent all the popular hits from RedBox for a buck and re-rent them at your shop for $5! Now that is American ingenuity! Good luck.
Thanks so much for letting me vent!! My husband told me years ago it was going to come to an end. But I’m not going down without a fight. It’s going to come to all of just staying in our houses, getting fat, and ordering movies online! You have to diversify, My husband has a Hobby Store inside my video store and that pays the rent. I am lowering my prices to Redbox price and just maybe the HUMAN factor will help, besides I do rent games. Thanks Again..Sue
What is really annoying about the Red Box, is they don’t carry many of the newer movie rentals. Today, the new Movie 9 was released, and the redboxes in my area don’t even carry it. Then the Hangover, the same scenario. Basically soon enough I’m going to say heck with Redbox and try netflix