The Grinch P&S kicks widescreens butt. (1 Viewer)

[Sanjay Gupta]

Honestly, do we really need to raise our kids in a strict code of OAR?

hmmm wish you were to meet my nine yr old daughter, I bet she would teach you a few things aboout OAR. Also, I'd have liked to see you tell her, that since she is just a kid, she would have to watch her favorite movies from now on in Pan & Scan. Darn! I really would have liked to see that scene. Also as parents is it not upto us to teach our chilren to respect all forms of art and their integrity?

Sanjay

Member since 1997

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

I'm pretty confident that just about any kid you ask would prefer OAR. "Which version would you like to see... this one that shows you the entire picture or this one that has half of it removed?"
As for the dubbing thing, many minorities become very militant about preserving their language and culture. Quebec definitely falls into that category, but then again so does France and many European nations. I guess they still dream of the old days when France was the culture capital of the world.

 

[Dalton]

I doubt the studios will abandon WS with all of the 16X9 tvs being sold. My real concern is that the WS releases will become harder to find and that would suck

 

[Scott Simonian]

Member removed & banned from this forum by owner

Awww.
I allways miss the good stuff.

 

[Dick]

I think that, more than most other DVD's in the short history of the format, THE GRINCH is being bought as a gift from parents to give to their children, and they don't give a flying **** what aspect ratio it has, because they don't figure their kids do, either. I don't believe this has anything to do with the "Joe Six Pack" mentality we are concerned about, but rather with a "I bought the first copy of THE GRINCH I saw and bought it." syndrome. Therefore, I think this is a not a good title with which to stir up fears that the studios will be increasingly releasing P&S only DVD's. When it comes to titles which are going to be bought primarily by movie collectors, I don't think we have anything to worry about, ever. Still, it can't hurt to continue to put a bug in each studio's ear if they go P&S only, even on "family" or "children's" titles.

 

[Kevin P]

At my local Best Buy, most of the copies of Grinch were the "full frame" version. I had to search around for a widescreen copy (they exist, but you have to search for them). No wonder the P&S version is selling better, since many people simply grab the "one on top" without checking the AR.

If the OAR copies were everywhere, with the P&S version buried elsewhere on the rack, the OAR version would have sold better.

KJP

 

[Larry Gardner]

Keep in mind that when statistics come out this soon after a title is released from the studios, they are basically referring to the distribution orders. However skewed this is, since Blockbuster and Hollywoord Video basically only ordered P&S versions, the studios only have the facts based on titles in the distribution network, NOT in the hands of the consumer.

Since Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, Wal-Mart, ... will only carry P&S versions when both are released in separate versions, this basically jacks up the numbers, since they are the majority retailer stores carrying rental titles.

What should be included in this 'press release' would be the number of rental versus sales. What percentage of rentals were P&S (I assume a great deal since the majority rental stores only order P&S in major numbers) and what percentage of sales at non-rental stores were WS.

Most people I find when purchasing a title, will purchase a title when they go in the store for that title. They basically feel that, I'm here and I'm not going to shopping for another store which carries WS (unless that are real OAR afficionados (like myself). It is mostly a type of 'impulse buying'. I'm here, there's the title, and I what it for tonite - type mentality. If stores would actually have separate displays - WS and P&S - that my help - as well as helping the customer in deciding wheteher they feel the WS is any better than the P&S - showing them both side-by-side on two monitors might help in this matter.

It would be interesting to see the percentages, as I stated above (specifically, e-online stores and others that offer a choice).

 

[Sean Conklin]

I just got home from our Christmas shopping ordeal at WalMart, and am sorry to report that the WalMart staff had placed ALL the WS copies of the Grinch behind the FF versions!
Well I did my duty and spent about 5 minutes placing every single FF behind all the WS, so my local J6P's will see WS first and hopefully buy it!
Now they got the black and green cases, so Joe may not even notice! I'm going back tommorow and later in the week and will adjust the display as needed for the Christmas season, and maybe if a staff member doesn't see me I will hide as many FF's as I can under the CD display

 

[Jon_Are]

My kids really wanted to watch Grinch last night, so I scurried over to Blockbuster (with my 10-free-rental Shrek card) to pick it up. A massive display of green Grinches appeared before me, floor-to-ceiling and armspan-wide. Not a single friggin' widescreen among them. I queried the nice saleslady, who looked perplexed, then responded that both full-frame and widescreen are on the same disc. "Nay," said I, "they ain't neither. Have you no widescreens?" Saleslady replies: "No."

So I jump up on the counter and say to her:

I do not like them Pan & Scan

I do not like them, Jon I Am

I do not like them on a train

I do not like them on a plane

I will not watch them with a mouse

I will not watch them in my house

I do not like that Pan & Scan

I do not like them, Jon I Am.

Four hours in the local precinct, a phone call to the wife to post my bail, and a $100 disturbing the peace citation along with 20 hours of community service. But it was worth it.

Jon

 

[Seth T]

LOL Jon...you rock!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Sean, your my hero! That is EXACTLY what I would have done! Good job!

 

[Sean Conklin]

Thanks John, I like to do my part, actually I do this all the time, I just can't help it! What you do is just casually pretend like your thumbing through them non chalantly, and just arrange them properly. If everyone here were to go to Wamart and hide FF Grinch's we could possibly account for maybe $250,000 in lost P&S Grinch sales per day or every couple of days. I think the studio's have pushed me/us to play hardball! :
Jon:LOL! That's great!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Jon, you know what you are my man? Your the William Wallace of OAR!!
"Where you goin?"
"I'm gonna pick a fight."
FREEDOM!!!!
I must say that I am quite impressed with what you did my friend, and if I could i'd shake your hand and buy ya a tall cold one! You were actually arrested for OAR, that's simply incredible to me!

 

[Robyn Young]

I know that blockbuster only carried fullframe, but what about Hollywood. My HW video carried widescreen ONLY. We didn't even get any fullframe for purchase. Don't ask me why. That's a corporate thing, and I'm guessing that the other HW videos are the same. Now. I'll let you know which Jurassic park we get tonight...

robyn

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Hey, I thought France was the surrender capital of the world.
Seriously, my kids realize that P&S cuts off part of the picture. They are only 9 and 6, so how hard could it be to understand?

 

[MartyK]

When I was in BB this weekend I could only find (4) copies of the widescreen version and they were not part of the "main" display. You really had to look for them.

 

[Carlo_M]

Education.

That's what it is all about. If you don't educate your kids now about OAR, they will grow up into adults who don't know or care about OAR.

I have quite a few nieces and nephews in the 5-14 age range. When asked about "the black bars" on the movies that Uncle Carlo shows, it didn't take a course in rocket science to explain it to them. In fact, with just a couple of examples (Blade Runner and other 2.35 vs. 1.33 examples) they got what I was talking about very quickly. Much more quickly than some of my adult friends that I had to explain it to. In fact, I got a call from my cousin who thanked me because her kid explained to her what widescreen was all about.

 

[Sean Conklin]

Jon_Are,

Did you REALLY do that??

If you did, YOU are AWESOME!!!

Tell us did you really?

 

[Larry Gardner]

Education.
That's what it is all about. If you don't educate your kids now about OAR, they will grow up into adults who don't know or care about OAR.
I have quite a few nieces and nephews in the 5-14 age range. When asked about "the black bars" on the movies that Uncle Carlo shows, it didn't take a course in rocket science to explain it to them. In fact, with just a couple of examples (Blade Runner and other 2.35 vs. 1.33 examples) they got what I was talking about very quickly. Much more quickly than some of my adult friends that I had to explain it to. In fact, I got a call from my cousin who thanked me because her kid explained to her what widescreen was all about.

Can you get your nieces and nephews to go to BB and educate them?

 

[Carlo_M]

Sorry Larry,

Trying to keep them away from any and all electronics stores lest they ask Uncle Carlo for a GameCube or XBox (good god, I haven't bought one for myself yet, what makes these tykes think I'm gonna spring one for them!)...