Why Netflix has such a terrible selection of classic movies. The service's movie catalog has 2,000 fewer films than in 2010.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

It's a familiar scenario for classic movie lovers: You sit down with popcorn and your Netflix account, start scrolling through to find an old movie, and are left with nothing palatable to watch.

For its many pleasures, Netflix comes up short — way short — when it comes to classic films. If you're hunting for anything made before about 1980, prepare for disappointment. A recent search in their "classic movies" genre only turned up a scant handful real classics: several Orson Welles vehicles ("The Third Man," "The Stranger" and "Touch of Evil"), "East of Eden," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Graduate."

There are a few reasons for this and, luckily, a few other places that can help narrow the content gap.


One of the main reasons is Netflix's shrinking library. As they've switched to focusing on "original" content — although eagle-eyed viewers will often notice these are already-aired foreign shows that have been acquired by or partnered with Netflix — the library of other content has decreased.

For you rookies out there.