Lengthy list of upcoming Warner releases @ DVD Shrine, including Batman animated... (1 Viewer)

[Will_B]

And I'd just like to side on Chris's side regarding thr aspect ratio. Animated films, being drawn, aren't like a live action film where there "just happens" to be extra stuff at the top and bottom.

If an artist labored for hours to draw that top and bottom, that's about as "original" as one could ever get.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

From what I understand the film was originally animated in a 1.33:1 ratio. Then it was matted to a 1.85:1 ratio for the theater. When a full frame version was made it was taken from the theatrical ratio and not the 1.33:1 it was originally animated in. Is this information not correct?

If I have my facts straight, it's considerably more complicated. They started animating this at 1.33:1 for a direct-to-video release. Then WB gave the greenlight for a theatrical release in widescreen, and the remainder of the film was animated for the 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
FYI, I prefer the fullframe version of Justice League as well.

 

[Brian Cruz]

If I have my facts straight, it's considerably more complicated. They started animating this at 1.33:1 for a direct-to-video release. Then WB gave the greenlight for a theatrical release in widescreen, and the remainder of the film was animated for the 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

Not quite. The whole movie was animated in 1.33:1. When WB gave the greenlight for a theatrical release, they had to redo all the storyboards to allow for matting to 1.85:1. None of the Batman-related DVDs coming out in April were animated in widscreen, but Justice League, Sub-Zero, and Return of the Joker were animated to allow for widescreen matting.
Incidentally, pictures of the main menus to some of these DVDs can be seen here:
http://forums.toonzone.net/showthrea...threadid=15322

 

[Henry Colonna]

This is confusing.

Could someone summarize what's out now that's "as it should be" as far as OAR so that I could go ahead and start buying?

 

[Brian Cruz]

Batman: Mask of the Phatasm is out now, and contains both the full screen and matted widescreen version of the movie. Here are some pics from both versions:

Batman & Mr Freeze: SubZero will be released on DVD in April. Here are comparison shots between the full screen VHS and the widescreen laserdisc. As you can see, even the cgi-animated parts were done full screen:

Justice League will also be released in April. Here are comparison shots between the full screen and widescreen versions:

Batman: The Animated Series: The Legend Begins and The Batman/Superman Movie are both compilations of TV episodes, and shouldn't have a widescreen version.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was almost certainly animated to allow for widescreen matting, but I have not seen a widescreen version, so I can't make a comparison. In fact, most of WB Animation's feature-length productions are animated to allow for widescreen. I believe all the recent Scooby-Doo movies were done this way. I know for a fact that Tom & Jerry: The Magic Ring (which comes out in March) was done this way, from conversations with that film's producer. So was Wakko's Wish, which came out a few years ago. I actually obtained a screener copy of the widescreen Wakko's Wish from that film's producer, although the released version was full screen. Here are pics of that:

As for which versions can be considered the OAR... that is often a matter of much debate. I'll go with whatever version the creators prefer.

 

[John B. Holbrook]

Haven't seen what exactly will be on the Justice League DVD - will it have the whole first season on it or just the first establishing episodes?

Also, has any pricing info been released on any of these Batman/Superman/JLA DVDs?

Best,

 

[Adam Tyner]

Price should be $19.99 on all of these titles. The Justice League disc just features the opening 3-episode arc.

 

[Chris S]

For those who are interest, am I am assuming it would be just about everyone here, ToonZone.net has posted the menu screens for Justice League, Batman: The Animated Series - The Legend Begins, Batman: Sub-Zero, The Batman/Superman Movie.
Check it out: http://forums.toonzone.net/showthrea...threadid=15322

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I like these titles opened up; you can always matte them if you want. Best would be to present both on the same disc but I'm not holding my breath.

As far as the screenshots of Justice League go, the sample shots look great matted, but some other shots on the series look a lot better opened up.

SRP for Justice League is $19.99. At approximately 60 minutes running time, this must be one of the most expensive TV series (as opposed to documentary) DVD releases ever.

 

[Daniel L]

Brian,

Thanks for the pictures, it helps show the differences.

Look closer at the screen shots of Sub Zero. While it is a matted movie, you'll notice that there are slight gains on the left and right of the screen, while the top & bottom are cropped. This is typical of many 1.85/1.66 films.

If the films were animated to account for widescreen formatting, Warner would be stupid not to include a 16 X 9 version of them. (Of course, I've never mistaken Warner for being smart.)

Daniel L