I've noticed that films on DVD only seem to be released now in one format (widescreen) as opposed to full screen or dual disks that have FS on one side and WS on the other. My question is why?

I know widescreen is a better format, but for school I need to know WHY companies seem to only be issuing widescreen (or am I wrong in this?) I can't find any current info anywhere, and I'm pretty good on google.

My guess is it's a cost issue, but I need some hard evidence, if possible. Can anyone please help?

My best guess would be because HD is the future -- and a very immediate future. That aspect ratio is not the square of TVs in the past. If studios don't start making that transition now, pretty soon people are going to be complaining about the black bars on the sides of their TVs. I think consumer education is better now than when DVDs first came out as well. I think kids movies are pretty much the only types that still consistently get full screen releases.

The real question is, why were they releasing fullscreen DVDs in the first place?

The future of television is HD. Most of the sets you'll buy today are HD. HD is natively at a widescreen resolution of either 720 or 1080, at a format ratio of 16:9 (widescreen). Normal televisions were at 480 resolution with a 4:3 format ratio (the square picture we've known).

Movies since before videos were even available for home viewing, were shot in widescreen so that movie theaters would have their front ends covered with the film the audience was watching. Since that format has been, and always will be at the theaters... it only made sense that companies start making a transition to home televisions that reflected that wide picture so we no longer got to see the lopped off sides for a square picture we always had.

VHS was mostly about the 'full screen', which was only 'full screen' to your standard television set. And early DVD either included both ratios on a disc, or released widescreen and full screen seperately. Since the majority of televisions you'll see at the store are in a widescreen format, and HD is all about widescreen, studios are making the majority of their releases widescreen to match the demand of home theater today, and more importantly because of this, reserve the original aspect ratio of film the way that it was meant to be seen.

Since DVD has come out, the market increasingly saw financially, what a great opportunity transportable home entertainment was. DVD's exploded thanks to great picture quality, great surround sound, and the true beginning of the 'tv series' ownership opportunity. The demand by consumers has been about creating a 'home theater' experience, so here it is, widescreen and all.

I don't know what you need to know specifically for your paper, but companies don't always issue ONLY in widescreen. Television shows and older films, if they were originally shot in a 4:3 format, they'll remain that way on DVD for the most part. Only the extremely brave (read: stupid) have tried to do otherwise.