OAR changed from theatrical to DVD question
 

This may have already been answered, but films like jersey Girl, Alone in the Dark, and the Dodgeball Unrated Edition DVD ditions all have aspect ratios of 1:85:1 while when in theaters, I distinctly remeber being in 2:35:1 or 2:40:1.

Why is this?

it's because the people who make the decisions on mainstream home video releases are a bunch of dicks.

You saw Alone in the Dark in the theater?

A number of reviews state that Jersey Girl is 2.25:1 on the disc, and that the release is incorrectly labeled as 1.85:1.

I haven't seen any of these, myself. I've heard of cases where a director had intended a particular ratio all along but was forced by circumstances to release to the theaters in a different one. "The Truman Show" comes to mind.

RichC

I'm not sure what you mean with respect to Jersey Girl and DodgeBall. The DVDs are at 2.35:1, the OAR.

As far as Alone in the Dark, the DVD, which is 1.85:1, specifically notes that it was "formatted from the original 1.85:1 version in which the film was shot." Like Artisan (which it took over), Lions Gate uses tricky language when justifying its DVD presentations, so one can't really tell what that means. It seems to say that you are mistaken and that the film's OAR is 1.85:1. But even if not, the director closely supervised that DVD, so one assumes the movie is being presented the way he wants for home viewing.

house of the dead also has a different OAR on DVD than in theaters,i remember in theaters how this had a 2.35:1 ratio and on dvd its 1.85:1..
its funny you mention Alone In The Dark cause its by the same director,i just dont understand why he would shoot in 2.35 and then throw it on dvd in 1.85

It's Uwe Boll we're talking about here. Why does he do anything.