Atlantis Panned and Scanned in U.K. (1 Viewer)

[Tristan H]

Hi guys,

I've been reading all the threads here about the menace of P&S DVDs and would like to draw this to your attention. The U.K. standard release of Atlantis is to be Pan and Scan only! The collector's edition will remain in the correct OAR, but I again think this points to a worrying trend.

 

[AaronMK]

I really hope they don't think that "collectors" are the only ones who desire OAR. I would hate to always have to pay a premium, even when I don't feel the additional supplements are worth the extra money.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

In Sweden it's even worse. No OAR version will be made available at all.

Personally I'm picking up the R1 either way, but it's still disgusting that they'd release a 2.35:1 movie in pan&scan only.

 

[Stephen Orr]

That's pretty cruddy, considering the time they spend in the extras specifically addressing why the film was produced in the widescreen format....

 

[george kaplan]

I keep reading in these p&s threads that 16x9 tvs are much more common in Europe than in the US. So why the hell would they do this? Or are they talking about pan & scanning to 1.85 (still a horrible thing to do)?

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Because the people creating the discs here in R2 land are far more clueless than the ones doing the R1's? It's gotten better, I guess, but there are still lots of crap on the market. For instance, some releases force subtitles to on and you can't turn them off (some sort of marketing or licensing decision, dunno). Sound can be pro logic instead of DTS (happened on Titan AE...) and so on.

I'm sure this is some weird "well, it's for kids so let's just release it pan&scan" decision.

There are more 16:9 sets here, yes, but there are still far more 4:3.

 

[Michael Dueppen]

I checked and it seems to be the same in Germany: OAR SE and bare bones P&S.
I really thought we would not have to be afraid of MAR here in Europe any more (since quite a few people have 16:9 sets (especially those with DVD players) and pretty much every 4:3 set sold during the last 10 years has a 16:9 mode). But I guess I forgot about Di$ney. :frowning:

 

[Jan Strnad]

This is deplorable. The widescreen presentation is essential for the visual effects in Atlantis, which are the film's strongest point.
Dumb, dumb move.
Jan

 

[Jonathan David]

What I find hard is, that especially in the UK, we are quite ok with Widescreen. So why the change of plan?

 

[Ray Chuang]

No widescreen version on the standard release in Europe? That's a terrible idea!
One of the important pluses of the DVD format is the fact that with the high resolution of DVD, the movies can be shown at its original aspect ratios with no loss of picture quality. You can imagine the riot that would have broken out if Disney had released the standard edition version DVD of Atlantis: The Lost Empire in pan-and-scan format only here in the USA.
Besides, in order to enjoy the movie the most, you have to see it in its full aspect ratio, since some of the background animation really deserves it.
(Kisses Collector's Edition box )