Columbia Pictures flicks -- mostly -- back on for Xbox 360 Netflix streaming

We never got a satisfactory answer for why they disappeared in the first place, but it seems the majority of the Columbia Pictures' movies on Netflix Instant Watch lists suddenly switched to "not available on Xbox 360" are once again open for streaming to all devices. The Karate Kid series, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day and others now stream to Microsoft's box, however Columbia Pictures movies tagged with the "available through Starz Play" logo -- including Bad Boys and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story -- are still out. Hopefully the remaining relevant parties are contacted soon, as Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett have work to do, but this is a great start.

[Thanks, Hunter!]

[)ROFL( @ Nov 25th 2008 10:42PM]

Columbia are bad boys.

[jschloer @ Nov 25th 2008 10:55PM]

whatcha gonna do?

[mos @ Nov 25th 2008 10:45PM]

The future is unlimited as long as I do not max out my monthly cap.

[Jonathan @ Nov 25th 2008 10:50PM]

How do I get that list view on the netflix site?

[Richard Lawler @ Nov 25th 2008 10:54PM]

That's the Instant Watch queue, after you've added movies to your queue, they show up there and you can re order or remove them. It's just under the "Your Queue" button

[Jonathan @ Nov 25th 2008 11:30PM]

Oh, so do you have to add them to the queue before it tells me I can't watch them on my xbox.

[Skazer @ Nov 25th 2008 10:57PM]

Cue the legion of xbox fanboys and Sony haters to come jumping in here with some irrational ranting and conspiracy theories.

[Nomi @ Nov 25th 2008 11:58PM]

LoL...you should go back to the thread announcing the unavailability and everyone calling Sony shit.

[adobochicken @ Nov 26th 2008 12:35AM]

since we're on the subject of fanboys.

Microsoft should have a problem with Windows Operating system on all Vaio computers. for some "odd" reason.

i just want to let that out (I own Ps3,360, n wii mkay)

[Jared @ Nov 26th 2008 11:09AM]

I wont call it a conspiracy theory, but it seems hard to believe that the only system that wasn't able to play movies was the xbox. What are all us xbox fanboys supposed to think? Sony isn't exactly helping their cause with this one.

[AJR @ Nov 25th 2008 11:02PM]

Maybe there was a snag in the licensing. It looks dirty, maybe it is. but with the competition between the 360 and the PS3. It's not surprising

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 26th 2008 3:13AM]

And as Adobochicken stated above, why wouldn't MS dick Sony over. They _are_ running their operating system on Sony computers without crying about it...

[Stewie @ Nov 25th 2008 11:06PM]

Yes! Oh wait I don't pay the 50 bucks a year for XBox Live Gold.

[)ROFL( @ Nov 25th 2008 11:09PM]

That's unfortunate.

[Stewie @ Nov 25th 2008 11:13PM]

It is I play online on Steam, PSN, and XBL for the PC. But now I'm getting off topic. I hope Netflix can close some deals with more studios.

[whoismoses @ Nov 25th 2008 11:20PM]

Usually online you can snag 13 months of xbox live gold for $40.

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 26th 2008 3:15AM]

Newegg.com offers free shipping. You can't really complain about $3.08 a month for premium service. Still don't know why they don't just have instant downloads as opposed to actually shipping you the card...

[Dave @ Nov 26th 2008 12:22AM]

Too bad I still can't do anything with streaming Netflix from Japan. Funny they will send their DVDs across the ocean but won't let me stream something over the internet.

Studios need to change their licensing deals so that people in the military stationed overseas can still enjoy their content.

[Phillip @ Nov 26th 2008 12:31AM]

how exactly is it irrational if every other device that could play movies wasn't affected? roku, bluray players, macs/pcs, only 360 was affected and only when it went nxe public. i got in a few days early and watched spider man 3 no problems on the 360.

by the way the 5 columbia movies I have on my queue are still unavailable.

[Skazer @ Nov 26th 2008 10:17AM]

It was irrational for a few reasons:

1. Nobody knew all the facts or had any substantial evidence to back up their claims. Companies can release distribution licenses for only certain platforms you know. Some may expire at different times, some may need to be re-negotiated at different times. It could've been a coincidence for all we know.

[Cool8man @ Nov 26th 2008 12:45AM]

Damn that was faster than I expected. Netflix really got on top of this. I'm glad Sony was able to work out a deal and hopefully they will do the same with Starz soon. I'm loving the Netflix service on 360. I haven't had any hiccups at all streaming which is very unusual. Whatever streaming tech Netflix is using is great. I watched the Pixar documentary last night and it was excellent. I'm hoping the studios will see the popularity and possibilities of this service and jump on board fully. It would be incredible if we could get all new releases like this.

[therpham @ Nov 26th 2008 2:56AM]

I see you have The Pixar Story in there. That documentary made me positively giddy with nerd joy.

Also, I am quite excited about this being resolved so quickly.

[TheSpoon @ Nov 26th 2008 6:48AM]

I still have "Reign over Me", "Next" and "Resident Evil: Extinction" all as not availible on Xbox360. On the bright side, Dr. Who Season 1 no longer expires on Dec 1st.

[Starnerf @ Nov 26th 2008 8:29AM]

Why is City of Men foreign?

[typoink @ Nov 26th 2008 9:25AM]

Because it is foreign, what with being from Brazil. I have a feeling it's not the movie you're thinking of.

[Skazer @ Nov 26th 2008 10:20AM]

Well Endgaget's shitty comment system decided to delete the rest of what I wrote.
2. Only Columbia Pictures were removed. If Sony really wanted to stick it to Microsoft, they could've removed all of their other movie brands.

3. Netflix reps themselves said it was just a temporary licensing issue (paraphrase)

4. People were calling Sony childish and dicks all over- yeah corporations think like children. Sony just made this impulsive decision to yank off all their movies (wait, they didn't) to spite Microsoft.

The facts available certainly didn't justify the overreacting and bashing that was going on.

[andrew @ Nov 26th 2008 11:34AM]

i dont know what he is talking about but my movies still say "not available through the xbox 360" even the one he gave an example of, Bad Boys. I just want to watch me some bad boys!