Of course the partnership rooted in money-making greed — Warner Bros. wants you to buy the DVD instead of rent it —was to be expected. But the new deal is a first of its kind, and we could soon see several other studios follow in Warner Bros. footsteps.
Both companies would like you to know that the deal also guarantees that Warner Bros. will add more direct-to-video and streaming titles to the Netflix collection.
It's the end of an era and the end of the new release rental as we know it. While we mourn the loss of new release rental freedom, we'd like to point out that RedBox is every bit the rebel, and the enemy of the entertainment industry. So if you can stomach getting off the couch, hit up one of their kiosks and you're still likely to find Warner Bros. new releases for rent on the cheap.