Some folks still gotta have their full frame! (1 Viewer)

[Thomas T]

I was at Fry's electronics yesterday to pick up a few DVDs when I noticed a young man (20ish) going through a box of Cold Mountain DVDs when there were plenty on the racks. When an employee approached him and asked if she could help him, he said he was trying to find a full screen DVD of Cold Mountain. The employee responded that the wide screen version was the only one available. He mumbled something under his breath and walked away ..... without a Cold Mountain DVD.

Which goes a long way in explaining why many studios (hello Columbia, MGM and Artisan) are still doing full frame efforts only on certain films. So much for the theory that if only wide screen were available, consumers would be forced to buy them.

 

[Adam_ME]

I don't know which part of this story is more surprising. That a 20-something dude would prefer "fool screen" over OAR or that Buena Vista actually released the DVD in widescreen only.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

I agree with you there, but I'll give you one guess as to which story I prefer.

 

[george kaplan]

Well you're assuming that he wanted a full frame version to watch that way. Maybe he was just looking for a really horrible gift as a practical joke.

 

[MatthewA]

Your kid really likes Chitty, George.

If they want full frame that badly, they should restrict their viewing habits to TV series and pre-1953 movies.

 

[Malcolm R]

They did the same with "Pirates of the Caribbean," and that's even more of a "family" title.

 

[george kaplan]

Yeah, it's his favorite movie, at least for now.

 

[Adam_ME]

I always assumed that was due to Jerry Dreckhelmer being the producer. His movies seem to only be released in OAR lately(Bad Boys II being another example).

 

[DaveF]

I don't know why that would be surprising. I preferred full-screen through most of my twenties. With only a 19" TV, I found widescreen annoyingly small to be enjoyable.

These days, many (most?) regular folks just don't know nor care about widescreen or fullscreen.

I prefer widescreen these days -- a DVD player and a 27" TV showed me the way a few years back. But I'm not surprised that some people prefer widescreen. If they're a friend, I'll try to show them the better way, but it's their choice.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"I always assumed that was due to Jerry Dreckhelmer being the producer."

Then explain the OAR on Those Calloways, Frank and Ollie, Walt: the Man Behind the Myth, The Happiest Millionaire, and several other recent titles. Somehow I doubt Jerry Bruckheimer had much to do with Never Cry Wolf. It looks like many people ca't even come to a consensus regarding the "oar" of late 50's/19660's Disney titles, and even then, there seems to be no consensus as to the question of the cinematogrpahy -- were certain Disney films hard-matted for theatrical exhibition? Were they shot open-matte? No one seems to be able to answer the question.

 

[Grant H]

20ish people still smoke too, so no amount of stupidity surprises me.

I say we solve the problem just like China solved the opium problem way back.

Why waste time and resources educating? Just shoot the foolscreeners in the head and put them out of their misery.

Hmm, should I put a smiley? Nahhh. I'm in that kind of mood.

(Special exceptions for those with poor vision who can't afford to buy a bigger tv. I know; we can take the wallets of all those we shoot and use that money to buy them bigger sets. Now I'm thinking.)

 

[WillG]

I would have said "If you must have full screen, get the VHS edition."

 

[Zen Butler]

It appears some folks are still holding on but widescreen outsells full frame dvd's now. Advocates of widescreen have the momentum, just continue to educate. It(Full Frame), will be over soon. We've already won, just going to take a while to administer the knock out blow. The new battle, is incorrectly matted material to please the widescreen tv owners. Original Aspect Ratio, is the war.

 

[Grant H]

I fear it will never die. Even some of those with 16:9 HDTV's will continue to want their screens filled and FF will become 1.78:1 instead of 1.33:1 for scope pictures.

I've heard HBO HD (I think that's the one) all ready shows movies like this.

Hopefully when sets like DLP or similar technologies thad have no risk of burn-in become more the norm, the fear of black bars will dissipate and win a few back over to the good side.

 

[Terry St]

Well... They have started to format some 1.33:1 films to 16:9 in order to fill those widescreen TV's... Widescreen Casablanca seems to be inevitable.

 

[Lev-S]

How bad could he have wanted Cold Mountain in the first place if he refused to buy it based on this logic? F&*K him I say! His loss! Oh, and for the China remark... :star: .

 

[Scott Temple]

The clerk should have replied, "Sorry, we're all out of the 'convienently cut-to-crap to fit your square ass TV screen' editions."

 

[Vegas 1]

Well according to last Tuesday's newspaper the number one selling dvd was Lord of the Rings-Return of the King Full-Screen version, go figure!

Regards,
Al

 

[Joshua Clinard]

What paper was that? Whatever it was, it was incorrect. In fact there was not a fullscreen version in the top 10 at all last week. Number 12 was the fullscreen version of 50 first dates however. The widescreen version was number 3.

For weekly widescreen vs. fullscreen stats, see my DVD Sales & Stats page.

 

[Rolando]

The old "TV is too small for widescreen" line is BS. I have had to do without my 64" 16:9 set and on the 25 year old no name 19" TV I've had to watch movie I never even once considered Fool Screen.

Heck I believe a few here at the HTF have mentioned having 13" TV and still watch movies properly.

Louvre attendant: Sacre bleu! ze frame on ze mona lisa broke and ze only one left iz too small. Andre, bring me ze scissors!