I’m not sure if the movie industry is purposely trying to collectively kill itself or if it thinks cutting out the middle man will increase home movie sales, but one thing’s pretty certain when it comes to the trend of watching movies via an Internet stream: this method of content delivery sucks when it comes to new releases.

The funny thing is, even with the restrictive approach to streaming and new releases, the studios are still taking a loss, which probably explains the decision to increase the new release delay for rental services even more. Of course, this is something Netflix streaming users have already been aware of — the distinct lack of new releases — but after seeing the upcoming graphic, it’s even more head-shaking than you might suspect.

Thanks to Flowing Data, we now know what such a visualization looks like:

Click for larger image

Even without enlarging, you can see there aren’t many new release movies available for stream, no matter what platform you prefer. So what gives? Is this how the movie industry saves itself? By denying its content to consumers, “forcing” them to purchase it (which most simply ignore until the title until it is available on HBO or Showtime)? Is this smart business?

Considering you’re discussing the same industry that got mad when the Internet went dark in protest of SOPA, is this even surprising the movie industry is so willing to try and ignore — if not outright eliminate — what is quickly becoming the preferred method of home movie distribution?

Unfortunately, that answer is a loud “no.”

Thanks to Roger Ebert for making that awesome book cover, which leads this article.