Online Movie Rental: Finding the Movies You Never Even Knew You Wanted

By: Christine Peppler


For countless years, consumers would wander into the local video store in search of movies to take home. For some, selecting a movie was a process which often ended in disappointment. Guided by the words of a handful of movie critics or a paragraph written on the film covers sitting on display, there was uncertainty unless the selection was based on movies the viewer had already seen at the theaters or on television.

For others, the local video store seldom offered the selection that they craved. These viewers knew what they wanted; from indie films or anime to spiritual based offerings or Sci-Fi, but with a total selection of 10,000 to 15,000 titles the likelihood of finding a movie suited to their tastes each week was remote.

For movie fans there had to be a better way; a way to have a broader selection and a method of discovering movies that had the potential of becoming favorites.

Then in 1999, Netflix rolled out their online movie rental subscription service and movie selection has never been the same. Without the constraints of walls and floor space, an online movie rental service is capable of offering any DVD made. For Netflix customers, this translates into over 70,000 titles to choose from among hundreds of genres and subcategories of films.

With online movie rental the choices suddenly expanded from basic drama, comedy, action, and Sci-Fi to selections as specific as British Comedy, Russian Foreign Films, African-American Documentaries, Latin Pop, or Belly Dancing Whether a viewer simply wants to experiment and expand their horizons or knows exactly what they want, the Netflix library should offer much greater satisfaction.

With the vast selection however, comes a tough choice for those who don't spend their time staying in-the-know about every new movie release. Here is where some of the true advantages to the Netflix online movie rental service come in to play.

As customers view movies with Netflix, they provide ratings/reviews online. Users can add Friends with similar tastes as well as refer to critics reviews. With a database that is currently 1.5 billion reviews strong, there are good statistics to guide users in making their movie selections. The Netflix online movie service will also guide users by examining their own rental and review history to predict what other choices will be to their liking.

Certainly, the options for movie fans have expanded with the introduction of online movie rental services. With a vastly expanded selection of films and services to assist users in discovering movies they never even knew they wanted, Netflix has moved consumers on to the next level of home entertainment.


Author: Christine Peppler. Readers interested in learning more or shopping for online movie rental should visit the author's home entertainment website.