What's new

OAR - Are We Winning the War? (1 Viewer)

Michael Martin

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 26, 2000
Messages
1,129
Reading Ebert's Movie Answer Man column today, and the last Q&A tell how widescreen DVDs are routinely outselling pan&scan versions:

11-16-2003 Movie Answer Man

Best quote from the exchange: "Apparently moviegoers now prefer wide-screen to 'full screen' (i.e., cropped pan-and-scan) by such a wide margin that stores are routinely left with piles of unsold full screens." :emoji_thumbsup:

I've noticed in the last few Entertainment Weekly top ten selling lists that OAR discs are always - or nearly always - better sellers than pan&scan.

Is it too early to throw the confetti?
 

Eric Emma

Supporting Actor
Joined
Feb 18, 2003
Messages
508
Real Name
Eric H. Emma
Does it matter, as long as companies put out an OAR version for me, I don't care very rarely they haven't.
 

Christian Preischl

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 11, 2001
Messages
1,374
Real Name
Christian Preischl
I just wish some studios would get the message.

I'm a pessimist by nature but it certainly felt good reading Ebert's column today. :)

Chris
 

Malcolm R

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2002
Messages
25,140
Real Name
Malcolm
Newest Top 10 sales chart in "Entertainment Weekly" is full of WS versions with nary a FS version in sight.

Heartening comment overheard at Wal-Mart yesterday regarding Terminator 3, "...is that the widescreen version? Did you get the right one?" :)
 

Tom Scholfield

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 20, 2003
Messages
89
The war is not won until we can get the message across to all moviegoers and DVD buyers that OAR is the only way to watch the piece of art they are wathching it, instead of them watching a cut up version.
 

Steve_Tk

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2002
Messages
2,833
It's winning in my area. Usually by the time I get into Walmart there are only a few WS left but a stack full of FS. And it's not that they only order FS because the few times I actually make it there on Tuesday morning they have stacks and stacks of WS.
 

Tom_Bechet

Second Unit
Joined
May 20, 2002
Messages
283
It's won in Europe. but only because there are no PS/FS versions around. People only get OAR what they do later in their living room is their problem.
 

ZackR

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 27, 2003
Messages
611
Yes, I think widescreen is winning out, but I am not so sure about OAR. We are now seeing movies modified to fit the 1.78:1 of a widescreen TV. I for one do NOT want my 2.35:1, etc movies being modified just to fill up my widescreen. What next? Will people demand a "widescreen" Citizen Kane because it doesn't fill up their 16x9?! Yes, I think widescreen has won the war, but we need to keep focusing on OAR!
 

Jay Mitchosky

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 6, 1998
Messages
3,729
Yes, I think widescreen has won the war, but we need to keep focusing on OAR!
Excellent point.

I would guess that any sales figures will be skewed as the people who voraciously buy DVDs are collectors and enthusiasts who also demand OAR. The P&S market is probably more rental prone with purchases likely favoring the "family" titles.
 

Glenn Overholt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 24, 1999
Messages
4,201
No, we're not even close. Matilda shows the point. No WS version is scheduled - so the war will not be won until all movies that come out are in their OAR.

And Matilda isn't alone. There are probably several hundred out there that all need to be done again - correctly. Don't be fooled by sales figures. They may show OAR on top, but it isn't across the board.

The studios need to be hounded until they give in.

Glenn
 

wally

Second Unit
Joined
Feb 12, 2001
Messages
473
Went to BB to pick up T3 for a Friday night viewing. They must have had 150 Full Screen in the display up front, but not a single Wide Screen. I ask the sales person if they had WS anywhere else in the store. He said, "Oh, you must have one of those widescreen TVs." I said, "Nope, I just like to see the whole movie." He looked at me like I was crazy or something. Purchased Wide Screen from Wal-Mart. Hey, if they have what I want, why not?
 

Joshua Clinard

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 25, 2000
Messages
1,837
Location
Abilene, TX
Real Name
Joshua Clinard
I agree with Glenn. We are making strides, but until every movie is being released in OAR, and until full screen is no loner being sold, I will keep on hoping for that day. Let's not rest, or we will be overtaken. We still have to educate! Use Widescreen Advocate.
 

WillG

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Messages
7,563
I have been tracking the Video Business sales charts on the forum for the past few weeks on this forum. WS versions of DVDs usually come out on top, but for many titles, the WS finishes only a couple of places above the P&S. However, P&S versions tend to fall off charts much faster than WS versions in subsequent weeks

The question I have about the "War" is this. Is WS genuinely catching on? Or is it just that there are millions of J6Ps who don't have DVD players yet?
 

Adam Lenhardt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2001
Messages
26,971
Location
Albany, NY
The question I have about the "War" is this. Is WS genuinely catching on? Or is it just that there are millions of J6Ps who don't have DVD players yet?
The trick is to win the war before the J6Ps come on board. Hopefully, by that time the market will have already decided, and J6P will be stuck with the correct version.

I do agree with the previous posters that we're going to have to fight the same battle in reverse once all televisions are widescreen, and see start seeing crop jobs on 1.37:1 movies and 2.35:1 movies (See the Recruit)
 

Bryan X

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2003
Messages
3,469
Real Name
Bryan
The trick is to win the war before the J6Ps come on board.
It's too late for that. J6P has already com on board. You could literally see the change over the past couple years as J6P has jumped into the world of DVD. It used to be difficult to find a FS/PS release, not so the past couple years.
 

Eric F

Screenwriter
Joined
Sep 5, 1999
Messages
1,810
The disturbing trend of new HD channels is to fill the 1.78:1 screen.

Watch for new channels such as Cinemax HD and Starz HD to do this.
 

Jim*F

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 22, 2003
Messages
115
I'm a middle-school science teacher, and I show my 7th graders "The Andromeda Strain" every year after we finish the chapter on viruses and bacteria (usually right before Christmas break). The school just bought several new Panasonic 27" TV/VCR/DVD combos, and I was lucky enough to replace my old 25" TV/VCR (I'd hook up my own portable DVD player to this TV).

This new Panasonic has a "zoom" feature for DVD playback, so I thought I'd test it out on "The Andromeda Strain" for a good laugh! I brought the DVD in last week to test at the end of my 8th grade classes (since they've already seen it). You should have seen their faces when I zoomed in to make the 2.35 image fill the 1.33 screen! They couldn't believe you chop off nearly 50% of the image. (I then explained how "pan & scan" tries to make up for this, but that either way you lose lots of picture.)

Bottom line, they got the point that you should watch a movie the way it was filmed, just make sure you have a big enough TV to enjoy 2.35 films. And over the years, while students complain at the beginning of "Andromeda" that there are black bars, they very quickly focus on the film and forget about the black bars!
 

ZackR

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 27, 2003
Messages
611
The disturbing trend of new HD channels is to fill the 1.78:1 screen.

Watch for new channels such as Cinemax HD and Starz HD to do this.
That was my point exactly. We may be seeing widescreen versions of all sorts of stuff...but it might still be wrong. Like I mentioned, I don't want Lawrence of Arabia "filling my screen" once I get a 16x9. I want the RIGHT picture. To me, modifying films to 1.78 is just as bad as pan and scam. It really is. Modifying a film to fit a widescreen display is just as bad as modifiying it to fit a 4x3 screen....
 

Aaryn Chan

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 5, 2002
Messages
511
But now we're getting "zoomboxed" WS.

;)

The battle might have just ended, but we are now begining the war. -gandalf
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,726
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top