How will you watch the Oscar-nominated movies?
With ten nominees for Best Picture at this year's Oscars, the academy has doubled the number of movies that are sure to show up on lists of "most rented" in the next few months. But whether you're a member of Team Avatar or Team Hurt Locker, how will you watch them?
No viewing option is likely to give you access to all ten of the Best Picture titles. At most, maybe half of them are still widely available in theaters. However, many of those (at least five of the ten, to be precise) are already available on disc or on pay-per-view services from your TV provider and elsewhere (which generally have a comparable "availability window" as disc rentals).
Last year our survey department asked almost 7,000 ConsumerReports.org subscribers to weigh in on their preferred way to rent movies. Given the financial woes of many walk-in rental stores, it came as no surprise that respondents rated subscription rental services—which mail movie discs to your door—higher than their brick-and-mortar cousins. To see how each company fared, check our Ratings of movie rental services (available to subscribers).
On-demand movie rental services from cable companies, Netflix, Apple TV, and Vudu have been gaining popularity in living rooms for some time, and couch potatoes can now rent a flick with the push of a few buttons—no driving to the store or waiting for the mail required.
One perk of some on-demand services: the ability to watch Oscar nominees you couldn't easily see in theaters. For example, you may be able to order on pay-per-view compilations of the nominated animated and live-action shorts, which are showing at only a relative few specialized theaters across the country.
New polling feature! With all the movie-rental options out there, which is your favorite?
—Nick K. Mandle