Dr. DVD

Okay, I saw the Conan movie two pack at Best Buy last night and since it was only $14.99, decided to spring for it, as the first is a favorite of mine and the second one, while lackluster, a guilty pleasure. Anyhoo, I get home and find that the first one is anamorphic, but the second one isn't.
Okay, I know Universal is notorious for screwing us in the DVD department with all of their DVD:18 approaches to everything and all. However, an approach like this defies all logic. I mean, WTF? Having a non-anamorphic sequel packaged with an anamorphic original, and on its reverse side no less means they made an effort re-transfer a non-anamorphic film to a new disc. What the fuck are these guys smoking?

Also, please refrain from giving the typical *shrug*"Universal's a bunch of dickheads," and nothing else explanation.

Peep

They did it to make money off of suckers like you for no real additional effort on their part.

Dr. DVD

Really? Thanks.

AsmodeusVice

I can almost guarantee that it's Universal and it's sheer laziness/not giving a crap about its product.

How easy is it for them to just put the disc info from "Destroyer"'s original single disc release onto the double sidid disc, rather than going back and putting some effort into giving us an upgrade?

Easy money for them with no effort involved.

Sorry to say, but it IS Universal's lack of giving a shit about its material and the consumer who buys it. I'm sure they feel that if they throw us moldy bread, we'll eat it.

Tarantino

Universal's a bunch of dickheads.

= J

BuddyRevell

If you have a region free player the R2 Destroyer is anamorphic, has commentary by Sarah Douglas, and 5.1 surround. Just recieved mine the other day.

Duder

You forgot to shrug, so I'll do it for you.

*shrug*

JACOB

region 4 of conan the destroyer is also enhanced for widescreen, and has a 5.1 soundtrack. its only uncut. the UK edition is edited for horse violences.
it also have extras like commentary with the director and two of the actors. and itnerview with basil poledouris about the score for both conan movies.

JACOB

DavidH

I agree about Universal - they are pathetic. I can't even count their number of screw-ups anymore.

Joe Molotov

All they did was take the 1-Disc Barbarian CE release, the 1-Disc Destroyer release and slap them together on a DVD-18. A pretty sloppy effort, but at least they're both Widescreen unlike some of WB's Double Features (Arthur/Arthur 2, anybody?).

I bought the Austalian Conan the Destroyer release, and I'm pretty happy with it. When you see Arnold punch-out a camel in full Anamorphic Widescreen glory, you'll know it was worth the money.

JACOB

I have a petition at my site to get the uncut R rated version released on dvd. for conan the destroyer that is.

I have the info about it at my site: www.angelfire.com/ca4/sarahdouglas
you can e-mail universal:
universalstudios&[email protected]

L Chabert Lover

Universal did the same thing with the Smokey and the Bandit Franchise Collection. Parts one and two are 16x9 while part three is non-anamorphic. They made the effort to remaster the original in 16x9 (the individual disc is non-anamorphic), but part three (which has never been released individually) is presented in 4x3 letterbox. Stupid and pathetic.

Peep

Most of the 2 and three disc collections that are seeing the light of day now are just the orignal releases crammed together on the same disc of just the first disc of 2-disc sets. I'm surprised that people are seeing the low cost of these discs and expecting anything better.

Cameron

they reissued it in a keep case this time... still non anamorphic and dual sided disc.

hope they do this with other franchise collections as they are pretty low grade digipacks

rw2516

Because 99% of the people don't care about part 3. Doesn't have Reynolds. Why spend money to make a new transfer and individually release a movie most people won't buy. Just do a 16x9 transfer of two movies that people will buy and throw in a 4x3 of the third as a bonus feature.
Universal more than any other studio practices the "blow off sequels". Going all the way back to the 30s and 40s with the monsters. A huge original movie followed by a series vastly inferior sequels.
To complain about Conan the Destroyer is like complaining about no 50th Anniversay 2-disc edition of The Mummy's Tomb, or 2-disc special edition of Jaws 4, Airport '77, Darkman III, Chilkd's Play 3, etc.
I believe this is how Universal views it. What I don't get is releasing 16x9 in other regions but not here.

animatedude

first, you shouldn't have paid 14 something for it.
second,universal and logic don't come in a one sentence.
third,i was about to order it online but thank god i didn't since apparently the've re-released it in a keep case.
fourth,i think we will see a SE in the future since the remake is in the works.

GuruTwo

It's funny you mention "Darkman III".

I'm a big Sam Raimi fan and a DDD 20% off sale or two back I ordered the two direct-to-video sequels out of sheer curiosity because with the sale price they were literally like rental prices.

"Darkman II" is non-anamorphic but "Darkman III" was anamorphic, surprisingly. Otherwise the DVD is a complete example of laziness: no menu, no extra features whatsoever, you just put it in and it plays but when it comes to the presentation of the movie itself they actually did a decent job. Anyways, to compare the "Darkman" series to "Conan" you have the first and third movies with anamorphic enhancement and the second one in the middle with a non-anamorphic letterbox transfer.

I'm surprised Universal hasn't released a "Darkman" franchise collection to tie into one of Raimi's "Spider-Man" movies, especially since they can all be had for around $5. If they did it like all the rest (just using existing transfers, etc.) I'd pass but there's actually a lot of potential for extras like numerous deleted scenes, the unaired Darkman television pilot, etc.

RyoHazuki

Are you looking for an actual explanation like someone fell asleep in the factory or are you just venting?