Amazon refusing advance orders of Warner videos

Amazon is not taking advance orders of upcoming Warner videos including The Lego Movie, in its latest standoff with a supplier, according to a New York Times report.

Amazon customers would therefore not be able to view 300: Rise of an Empire, Transcendence, and the hugely popular Lego blockbuster that would be available on Lego next week.

This has raised the hackles of consumers who had hoped to pre-order The Lego Movie. One customer wrote, ''This has got to be the most eagerly awaited 2014 movie being released so far… Amazon may be digging their own grave if they keep this up.''

The move first came in mid-May, which was its third attempt in recent weeks to gain leverage over a major supplier.

Amazon had been grappling with the Hachette Book Group too, over e-book conditions, which saw the retailer delay shipments and refuse pre-orders of Hachette books (See: Top-selling author James Patterson accuses Amazon of 'book monopoly').  

The retail giant's third tiff is with the Bonnier Media Group over sharing the earnings of electronic books. Amazon has, as a result delayed orders from Bonnier's backlist.

The company's unyielding stance has come as a surprise to many - as has the suppliers' unwillingness to back down. The Lego Movie is considered the biggest movie release for June, and The Silkworm, JK Rowling's latest novel from Hachette, the biggest book release.

Jim Noonan, a Warner Bros spokesman said the company's "policy is to not comment on contract points or any proprietary issues involving our partners," Fox News reported.

Amazon had been involved in such combative negotiations earlier, when the company, in 2010, blocked consumers from buying works published by Macmillan, in a dispute, over the price of e-books.

Recent months had seen authors and other publishing insiders slam Amazon for unfairly wielding its power as a major retailer to gain leverage in contract talks.