I Hate You, Warner Brothers (1 Viewer)

[Kevin McCorry]

Sin 1- RSDL Rot
Sin 2- Snappers
Sin 3- Very Few Catalog Titles
Sin 4- DVD-18 For Superman, i.e. 4 times the chance of Sin 1
Sin 5- Wait Next Year For Looney Tunes Every Year Since 1997
Sin 6- P & S Only DVD
Sin 7- Pay-Per-View Video-On-Demand (in other words, you can't own our titles)
The Seven Warner Sins

 

[Jerry Gracia]

I am very disappointed in the news that the upcoming DVD release of CATS AND DOGS will be released in 4:3 format only. I own many of your titles on DVD and love them. they are all in their proper original aspect ratio with great picture and audio quality. I own 200 DVD movies and I am full of joy that the DVD format is mostly a widescreen format. I am now slowly getting worried that someday the DVD format will turn into what the VHS format was. A format exclusive to modified versions of movies. I sincerely hope that you re-consider your position. There is a market for everyone. Please don't ignore the home theater enthusiasts.
My family (including my 7 year old son) is well aware of why black bars occupy a portion of our screen and they love the widescreen format.
While I believe that no other version of a film should be released other that the origial aspect ratio version, I am aware that a vast majority of viewers simply don't care about this issue. I hope that future family releases from you at least offer both versions as to not anger ANY portion of your customers.
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LuvLBX

 

[Gerard Priori]

What can I say that isn't a retread of what's already been spoken? Their disgraceful lack of support for across-the-board original aspect ratio releases as well as their unwanted releases of SOUTH PARK and FRIENDS "theme" discs gives me very little reason to support this studio's product. (Their home video executives desperately need to be laid off, and their jobs need to be given to people actually in touch with the buyer's market.) Warner Brothers is the new embarrassment of the home video industry. (I'd LOVE to tell them what they can do with their discs!)
-Jerry

 

[Chuck L]

For a while, I really was thinking that Paramount was the studio that was the most removed from what the BUYING public wanted.
I do not understand why it could not be as simple as releasing a two disc set of this film, Cats and Dogs, and give in to both sections of the public. With people buying bigger televisions, it isn't like people are being forced to watch a letterbox film on a 9 inch or 12 inch screen.
Warner's participation of late within the DVD marketplace makes me really take not of why in our collection we don't have that many Warner titles.
For my way of thinking though,and I have thought this for a while, it is the makers of DVD's that in the long run that will hurt DVD. When the format was fresh and new, DVD held the promise of widescreen presentations and a format like none other. As time as gone by, Warner has gotten better on transfers, but has yet to revisit their early titles, that seem in demand, and improve upon them. The exclusion of widescreen presentations on 'family' films punishes those without children to be able to see the film in the way the director intend the film to be. Hate to tell you, family title films aren't just watched by a family with 2.3 children, white picket fench, and a dog.
Warner continues to hold hostage it's classic black and white and older color films because they aren't 'marketable.' I believe that was Universal pictures thoughts when they released the awful "Psycho" remake, people won't watch a classic because it is in Black and White, and it bombed. Thereby indicating that it doesn't matter if a film is in black and white, just that it has quality and is a good film.
Please Warner, rethink what made DVD what it is now and the promises that it held. While their is money, granted, in the family film arena, don't forget the folks that want and respect the art of cinema and the true aspect ratios.

 

[Stephen Orr]

While I cannot say I actually "hate" Warner Bros., I am one who will only purchase films in their original aspect ratio, whether DVD or VHS.
You're losing customers and sales, WB.

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

Hey Warner.....want to know another reason why the new Willy Wonka DVD will fail in its Pan & Scan format? This disc was released before...although without extras. A lot of people bought this disc. A lot of families bought this disc already. In your research how many of these families (the "Joe Six Pack variety") will go back out and purchase this movie a second time just for the extras. I know people in that category and they will not by it again simply because they already own the movie and it would be a waste of money. These are the people you seem to be targeting with the Pan & Scan only release of this new DVD BUT these are the people who are not fanatical enough to re-purchase a movie they already own.
It is the hardcore DVD fans who will go out and buy movies two and three times when new editions are released AND it is this fan base that demands original aspect ratios on all their movies. So.....someone making these decisions at Warner is out of touch with who will buy a "Special Anniversary Edition" of Willy Wonka. Don't just "consider" doing a widescreen Willy Wonka disc. DO IT! Don't ignore the DVD fan base which has made this medium into what it is today. Don't ignore the artist integrity of the directors and cinematographers by re-framing their movies into a Pan & Scan version just because the lenses on their motion picture cameras produce a rectangular image and today's TV screens are mostly square. Don't ignore these facts and continue to release Pan & Scan only editions (..like the up-n-coming Cat & Dogs)! I have no problem you including a Pan & Scan version on a disc IF YOU DO NOT REMOVE THE ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN VERSION ON THE SAME DISC. For me, NO WIDESCREEN = NO SALE. NONE! ZILCH! ZIPPO! EVER!
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Regards,
Brian W. Ralston
"Success is a journey, not a destination." - Unknown

 

[Kevin Sharp]

I remember the "old days" ('97-'98) when DVD first got going. All those WB titles with...
WIDESCREEN ON ONE SIDE
*AND*
PAN & SCAN ON THE OTHER
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What happened to those days???

 

[Chuck L]

This may seem like a rather stupid thought....
....would it not seem like it is more cost effective to simply slap a letterboxed version on a DVD then to have to go in and PHYSICALLY do a pan and scan version. I know that everything these days is done by computer...but it seems more time friendly to letterbox. ( I of course am not talking about not remastering verses remastering here, just the act of P&S verses Widescreen.)
Does this make sense to anyone else but my small group of movie hounds?

 

[Stan T]

Warner it is unthinkable that you are releasing "Cats & Dogs" in pan & scan. I was really looking forward to purchasing this title & was just waiting to preorder it once it was announced. Now the news that it will be pan & scan only. I will not be purchasing this title because of your decision. You are losing a lot of sales because of your decision of pan & scan on family titles & alienating a lot of people in the process. These people have supported you when DVD was just getting started & now you're turning your back on them. I can't believe with all of the negative press with "Willy Wonka" that you would even consider doing the same thing go "Cats & Dogs". Whoever is making these marketing decisions at your company definitely needs to be let go. Adults enjoy these titles also. We want to see the films in the orginial OAR's. We are the ones buying your products. If these decisions continue we won't continue buying these products. Is that a simple enough explanation for your marketing manager to understand? Please reconsider releasing this title in the original theatrical aspect ratio before it is released.

 

[Paul Chi]

I too am very dissapointed with Warner Brothers. They pretty much mess up on everything. Since their best of FRIENDS announcement, I will boycott any Warner titles.

 

[Matt Heebner]

I wonder if their "marketing research" on families even came close to the now 11,000 or so signatures on the Wonka petition.
I'll bet that it doesnt even come close!
Warner may have done the right thing in the past, but this is one sure way to erase all that very quickly!
Matt
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....Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, For Tomorrow We Die....--DMB
NO OAR-NO SALE WARNER!

 

[GaryEA]

Once again, I simply want to state that if Warner (grr...) releases either The Iron Giant:SE in full screen or reduces the Batman: The Animated Series to "Best Of" sets...
...well it'll be war, and that's all I say for now.
Warner, you're still on notice.
-g

 

[Patrick McCart]

That's really disturbing that some of you will not buy a movie just because the movie is in a snapper case.
Me? I wouldn't care if Citizen Kane was issued in a double-jewel case (with a handwritten cover).
You've really lost it if you care that much about packaging.
After all, you can always get a CD wallet or even a keep case.
(The preceeding was my opinion, and my opinion only.)
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P.S.: There's no P.S.

 

[Joseph S]

I would rather the double jewel than a snapper. At least, I could replace that easily and it wouldn't rip, bend, or tear. This is why we hate the snapper.

 

[Cees Alons]

Patrick is right. We should be more careful in choosing priorities. Comparing the "sin" of not releasing a film in it's OAR with the use of a Snapper is like apples and peaches (or whatever).
And then, I personally like the snappers! For reasons I stated many times before. So if you want proper support, please keep the grievances grouped correctly together.
Cees

 

[Mike Harrison]

Warner Brothers. WARNER BROTHERS! Look at how low you've descended. I agree with absolutely everything Jeremy said. The worst travesty of all is what you've done to the Superman and Rocky and Batman movies.

 

[Dharmesh C]

I think WB are now moving in the right direction...

 

[Jack Briggs]

Of course, Warner doesn't care what is posted here. A few wags at the studio might be lurking about, and they might have a few laughs at this thread. But, still, the studio doesn't care what we or any other group of enthusiasts think. Nada. Zilch.

The pan-and-scan lovers are far more numerous than the home-theater contingent. Warner loves the smell of green. Guess where the studio will go?

But since we're at it: Shame on you, Warner, for not providing us the unrated version--i.e., the real version--of Eyes Wide Shut. Too, the descent into pan-and-scan is a slap in the face of those early adopters who helped make DVD such a success--that is, us.

Oh, and while I'm at it: Business is business, for sure. No profit, no business. So, the Turner Communications/MGM-back-catalog fiasco was a natural opportunity for exploitation. But, Warner simply does not deserve to have the distribution rights to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It irks me to think that this philistine of a studio owns that film, as well as Citizen Kane. And, for that matter, so much of the rest of the Kubrick catalog (I know, I know, all his films since 2001 were made under the aegis of Warner, but still...).

 

[Patrick McCart]

Last time I looked, Rocky was owned by MGM as of now.

Also, I'd like to add that WB is increasingly becoming the GREATEST provider of classic films on DVD. The only studio with DVD's as good as WB's classics are Columbia's.

I only have ONE DVD by WB that's total crap. That's Vegas Vacation. All my others (Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Superman, Citizen Kane, Arsenic and Old Lace, North By Northwest, Doctor Zhivago, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Ben-Hur, Blazing Saddles, and Amadeus) are great examples of DVD. Even early-birds like Amadeus, Blazing Saddles, and Arsenic and Old Lace have great transfers (AaOL is excellent...Amadeus and BS could use SE's which are coming soon)

Eyes Wide Shut was altered by the producers, not WB. Point the finger at them instead.

It helps to have just a little bit of actual information about these things instead of making claims without minimal information.

 

[Trace Downing]

While the angry villagers with pitchforks here try to burn down the Warner Gates, take a gander on page 1.
Back in August, there were screams of betrayal at Warner going Pan & Scan...When we actually got these movies (in anamorphic widescreen no less) did any of you acnowledge your mistakes for flying off the handle?
Lord Of The Rings
Cats and Dogs
Never Ending Story
The Goonies
All in widescreen.
Yep, this company's really gone off into the travesty department. I thought the Taliban were horrible.:rolleyes