Why not?

My brother just picked up a shiny new 27" TV, previously he had a 21" or something. Even on that 21", he would only buy OAR, because he knew the pan and scan versions were chopping off lots of information on the sides. Widescreen movies were perfectly watchable on his 21" TV. I myself only have a 15 year old 27", and I have been watching widescreen movies on it since I first got my laserdisc player, back in 1990. The TV is about 10 feet away or more, as well, so it isn't like it looks bigger because I am close to it.

VHS has traditionally been pan and scan, there have been very few widescreen movies available. Also, VHS is a dying breed, and the studios know that anyone who would want widescreen would already have a DVD player.

IMHO, the studios realize that releasing a big movie like PotC in P&S only would probably lose more money than releasing it in WS only. The WS fans are more vocal, and are more likely to refuse to purchase it because it is P&S, whereas the Average Joes might purchase a WS version of a movie they really wanted.

The studios really need to educate the masses, though. There are at least three points that many people don't understand:

1. Pan and Scan (Full Screen) removes information from the sides of the film, and artificially "pans" the camera from side to side following the action. This ruins the scene composition that the director intended, whether it was a still shot for drama, or maybe two bits of action happening simultaneously at the far sides of the screen. Not to mention, the artificial panning can almost induce motion sickness if it is used too much.

2. Widescreen movies do NOT have the top and bottoms removed from a Full Screen picture. There are some movies that are "Full Frame or Open Matte" instead of P&S, but again, the director didn't intend these to be full frame, and you may see boom mikes or cabling, or just vast expanses of sky and ground that subtract from the action. Many special effects are formatted for widescreen only, and don't look right in Full Frame.

3. Widescreen movies WILL play on any TV, not just WS sets. If a "full screen" movie is played on a WS TV, there will be grey bars on the sides, which to me is much more distracting than the black bars could ever be.

With the government urging adoption of the HDTV standard, eventually P&S people will have to upgrade if they want to continue to watch TV broadcasts. When they upgrade, they will have a large library of full screen discs that they will either have to watch with grey bars on the sides, or they will have to zoom or stretch their TV and lose resolution. They probably won't want to have to replace all of their discs for widescreen versions, even if all of the discs were still available. I'm not going to get into the HDVD discussion, though...

Not in the real world, only here.

I don't mind the 1.78:1 or 1.85:1. I just can't watch 2.35:1 on a 27' TV. It's just a narrow strip, too difficult to watch. On a big screen, I'm sure it's awesome.

In anticipation of 1.85:1 becoming the norm and uneducated consumers demanding that all movies fill their widescreen TVs, most of the major studios have already hired George Lucas to create additional footage to go on the sides. You will thrill to seeing Boba Fett screaming like a little girl as he wanders the streets of a burning Atlanta. You will laugh as Gene Kelly and Jar-Jar Binks splash through puddles. And, of course, you will develop a newfound appreciation for Casablance when Major Strasser shoots first.

I've never had a P&S person come up to me and say "They chopped off the top and bottom of that film!"

Widescreen people try to convert, and they know the facts, Foolscreen people don't really care beyond how it affects them, and many of them don't know the facts (once they learn, they seem to be more open to WS.) There are some P&S people who know the facts, and are content with P&S.

I somehow doubt that there are many internet forums (well, maybe on AOL...) where people post stuff like "Heads up, PotC is ONLY in Widescreen!!! Lets boycott it!"

BTW, if PotC just set the record for selling the most units opening week (11 million,) that seems to say that WS and P&S people are both buying it...

Maybe because it isn't clear marked as WS.

... ...

(just one small niggle: 1.85 will never become the norm, 1.78:1 (=16:9) will!)

. . . . . .

I was going to say that if there are people who only buy P&S versions of a movie, do they simply not have many movies? I know in my collection, there are a whole mess of movies that are/were only available in "widescreen".

Personally, I think when people give WS a chance, they eventually get used to it. The 2.35 ratio was jarring to me at first, but it doesn't bother me now and looks perfectly normal (on the same 27" television).

These are a few examples of petitions having an effect on widescreen DVD releases. They may be the only ones, but the trend for correct OAR seems to me to be growing substantially. IMHO.

Sorry, try again. My main TV used to be a 25" 4x3, watched 2.35 on it, in fact preferred 2.35 as it looks more epic. In the bedroom we have a 20" that we watch DVDs on in widescreen from time to time. And I have a 13" in the spare room that I've watched widescreen on.

You need to adjust your mindset dude. Watch the movie, not the screen.


And something to point out about what obscurelabel said, how many petitions have you seen ever for a fullscreen DVD of a widescreen movie? We are more vocal.

Disney re-released The Absent-minded Professor in OAR and in B&W, after they first thought "its a family film, families like full frame and colorization..."

I am referring to the line 'The WS fans are more vocal'

I always HEAR PS fans MOANING about those pesky black bars. WS people don't MOAN about it, they WRITE about it.

Anecdotes:

My (I had thought) confirmed J6P mother-in-law mentioned last night she had finally bought Shrek. Only to get home and discover it was the FS only version. She's going to take it back for the WS.

And that's not that bad of a chop for Shrek and she is using a 25 year old 25" TV. I win another convert! I occasionally give my kids the choice. My 5 year old always says, "widescreen please", I have good kids.

Last week I decided to pick up POTC and there was a guy there carefully studying the box trying to make sure he had the WS version, while his wife stood by rolling her eyes. I helped him out in finding the tiny notation on the box and mentioned it wasn't actually available in FS. I think she was happier than him since she was sick of standing there. (maybe he needs new glasses)

I started preferring OAR (typically WS) over a decade ago also. Back then all I had was a 20". A few years back I acquired a 27". I sit at least 8' away from any of the TVs in our house. I wouldn't care if it was a 13" TV. If you want the picture bigger, buy a bigger TV, don't chop and zoom.