Mike Judge's Idiocracy came out earlier this week on DVD. I was home sick one day and went to Movie Gallery to try and get it. It was completely rented out. I returned yesterday to check again, but they were still all out.
Tonight I went in and none were on the shelf, but luckily they had one behind the counter.
Michelle and I just watched it 1.5 times. If you throw in the clips we watched on YouTube, we've basically seen it twice now. It's great.
I should also mention an interesting observation. I went to pick up some Chinese food today for lunch. The Chinese restaurant is near Hollywood Video, and both are adjacent to the local WalMart. While I was waiting for the food, I strolled around the video store. Amazingly, they had all of their copies of Idiocracy. (I would have picked it up, but I wanted to use the free rental I had at Movie Gallery). What might be important here is that the Movie Gallery is adjacent to our local Publix.
I'm not sure what it means. I will say that the Publix tends to be frequented by a slightly more well-to-do clientele; maybe they're smarter.
Last night I went to WalMart looking for cream of tartar. I'm no Betty Crocker, but damn, I had a notion cream of tartar was some sort of powder people cooked something with. When I asked for it last night, I was told to check the soup isle ("maybe it's next to cream of mushroom!"). Another person told me to try Publix ("they have all kinds of fancy stuff").
Idiocracy was released in like one theater. It was well-received critically, but didn't get much exposure or advertising. As such, the only way anyone could know about it is through reading.
Now, if we assume people rent movies from the video store closest to the place they do their grocery shopping, maybe it sort of explains why Hollywood can't sell Idiocracy, and Movie Gallery can't keep it on the shelf.