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3rd release for 'Grumpy/Grumpier' films and STILL no Widescreen.

#1
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7/20/09 at 8:46pm
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I am not a happy camper by any means.  I was browsing on Amazon just moments ago and came across this:

http://www.amazon.com/Grumpy-Old-Men-Grumpier/dp/B002BVYBFQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1248147342&sr=1-4

Now, my eyes lit up when I saw this, because I thought maybe Warner finally did right by these fantastic movies.  New cover art and a release date of September 15th certainly left me hopeful.  But upon zooming in on the back image of the cover art, it states that these have been presented in FULL SCREEN yet again.............

What gives??  Blu-Ray owners got the widescreen treatment just last week with the release of the first film.  Why can't they do this for those of us who still own and enjoy SD-DVD?  In other words, how can they possibly drop the ball 3 consecutive times?????

I love these movies.  I really do, and I would love nothing more than to own them, but I refuse to purchase a P&S title, and I have no interest to invest in a Blu-Ray player anytime soon.  So why do we continue to be left in the lurch over these fantastic movies.  These are the two I've wanted to own more than ANYTHING, and reading that Amazon page set me up for one hell of a let down.

Did Warner not promise us a couple of years ago that special editions of these movies would be made available IN WIDESCREEN following the mis-informed double feature disc?  After this, I've officially given up hope on the chance that we will EVER own these movies the way they were intended to be seen..........unless of course we switch formats.
750 titles and counting......
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#2
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7/21/09 at 8:14am
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For what it's worth, the two full screen discs are open matte, not pan 'n' scan. If you have a widescreen TV, you can treat them like non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs and zoom in. The result is a proper widescreen image (though lower resolution, obviously).

That being said, it doesn't excuse the studio from releasing these with proper anamorphic widescreen transfers.

Brian

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#3
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7/21/09 at 4:25pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Radke View Post

Did Warner not promise us a couple of years ago that special editions of these movies would be made available IN WIDESCREEN following the mis-informed double feature disc? 

Yes, they did, because I've been waiting for a WS release, as well, and was heartened (foolishly, it seems) by their commitment to a WS re-release.

I'd love to have them in my collection, but will not until they're released in anamorphic WS.


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#4
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7/21/09 at 4:47pm
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My guess is that they'll consider their commitment filled with the widescreen blu release.  I'm not saying it's right, but it's my guess.
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#5
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7/26/09 at 12:21pm
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Well, the R2 releases are widescreen, but the transfers are nothing to write home about. The first movie has a pretty wobbly picture, while the second looks better but still has too much visible dirt. I've actually made a comparison between my old fullscreen vhs tapes and the R2 dvds, but never got around to uploading them on my site. However I found out that the fullscreen versions, at least on vhs, were not completely open-matte, but lost much more image on the sides than usual open-matte-transfers.
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#6
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7/27/09 at 6:53am
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I can't state categorically that the R1 DVDs are completely open matte, but I've watched both zoomed in (like a non-anamorphic disc) and the image always looked properly composed, never cramped.

Brian

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#7
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7/27/09 at 10:28am
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Most older 4:3 transfers are both slightly opened up at the top and bottom and slightly cropped at the sides. Full "open-matte" transfers are pretty rare.

Sealed with a curse as sharp as a knife. Doomed is your soul and damned is your life.

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#8
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7/27/09 at 3:47pm
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 Warners must have gotten a TARP bailout-or are living off a trust fund...they seem to be sneering at profits in this economy.
increasingly they are putting out remastered editions which will sell several thousands on BR-and possibly 100 thousand on DVD.
Not exact % figures-but you get the picture
yet we see this
CONTACT, MAD MAX, 2010 etc remasters-all BR only-and the above insult, to boot.
Either Warner is doing well enough to say
"Depression?! WHAT depression!?
-WHERE HIRING!-and the catalog titles will be rolling off the stampers as if there were no tomorrow-and were laughing all the way to the bank..."
OR else there is a marketing exec or 10 in WHV who will soon join the ranks of the millions of newly unemployed
Q4 and beyond  dont look too good fellas according to most of what im seeing on professional financial sites-I generally ignore the happy talk, corporate mainstream media
IF I were a stockholder in WB....heads would roll

according to WIKIINVEST, TWX lost $13.5 Bn last year (2008)-or a staggering drop of 400% in revenue
so why they are telling us S-DVD collectors to "go to hell-we don' need your steenking money!" is beyond me


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#9
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7/29/09 at 5:01am
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The current Blu ray of #1 is wide screen.
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#10
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7/29/09 at 6:41am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark_TS View Post
 
according to WIKIINVEST, TWX lost $13.5 Bn last year (2008)-or a staggering drop of 400% in revenue
so why they are telling us S-DVD collectors to "go to hell-we don' need your steenking money!" is beyond me
 

As noted at WikiInvest, Time Warner's losses in 2008 result from the following areas:
  • declining ad revenue at AOL;
  • declining ad revenue in the publishing business;
  • falling movie theater attendance due to home theater; and
  • writedowns of cable assets.

Selling even a few million more DVDs to OAR enthusiasts (and that's a rosy scenario) would barely put a dent in those losses. As an OAR fan, I'd like the discs, but as a Time Warner shareholder, I expect a much better corporate strategy.

(In fact, this year has seen a spin-off of the cable division, which has already had some benefit, but it's only a start.)
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