This is a strange and interesting concept, so naturally I’ve got to bring it to your attention.

There are currently two schools of thought running around right now, and one of them will bring horrendous destruction whilst the other might usher in an end to the format wars forever.

I know, a little melodramatic, but that’s the way it goes.  Here’s the rundown.

School of Thought One: Netflix agreeing to the twenty eight day embargo will destroy Netflix’s DVD rental business and hand off most of that business to Redbox, who can get the stuff at release thanks to their current policy of “buy the crap off the shelves when it comes out and rent it there”.

School of Thought Two: Netflix’s profitability and widespread membership rolls give studios what they’ve always wanted–a collapsed window between theatrical release and video release.

School of Thought One, of course, ignores the fact that about seventy percent of Netflix’s rental business has nothing to do with new releases.  And School of Thought Two does miss the fact that Netflix isn’t the only game in town, so the studios hoping Netflix will make up for a loss at the theaters seems farfetched.

But still, something to think about, isn’t it?