Day After Tomorrow - is it widescreen or full screen

[Snakebyte1]

Hi...

I was going through the clearance bin at Zellers and found The Day After Tomorrow going cheap. I prefer Widescreen format, and at the top it clearly says WIDESCREEN EDITION, so I bought it.

I bring it home and flip over to the backside and see that it says in small print at the bottom "Fullscreen. Modified to fit your screen 1.33:1 Modified from its orginal theatrical version. This version has been formatted to fit your screen."

This is the Canadian release, from 20th Century Fox.

So is this a typo on the back cover or what? It doesn't say it contains both Full and Widescreen. I have not opened it yet as I haven't decided if I should just return it or live with whatever format it turns out to be.

Anyone else run across this?

Thanks
D.

[gadgetguy]

That kinda sounds like the crappy thing they did to The Princess Bride where they took the Pan/Scan Full Screen version and cropped the top and bottom to make it widescreen. I hope you got it really cheap if that's what it is.

[jagabo]

IMDB.com says the printed film format was anamorphic 2.35:1 35mm, and the DVD is anamorphic widescreen.

[Snakebyte1]

Thanks for your comments gadgetguy...

That was my fear - that they took a Fullscreen version then added some black bars top/bottom and call it Widescreen - basically false advertising!!!

I guess they do this to save themselves a few bucks, so they only have to create a Full Screen version and then simply slap on some black bars and call it Widescreen and screw some buyers. If your don't notice it before you open the package then you're stuck with it.

The gall of this industry knows no bounds.

Was the Princessd Bride put out by 20th Century Fox?

Since I have not broken any seals on this DVD I think I will take it back just on principle.

D.

[Snakebyte1]

Jagabo, thanks for the information.

I checked out IMDB.COM and see it listed two versions: Widescreen and Fullscreen.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/dvd

The Widescreen version is indeed listed as Anamorphic 2.35:1

The Fullscreen is listed as 'Widescreen Pan and Scan 1.33:1'

Clearly, the packaging information is misleading... but even more, this is plain STUPID!!! There are those who want Fullscreen and those who want Widescreen. Those who want full screen would not want any black border and those who want Widescreen don't want pan & scan. I can' see anyone wanting this hybrid format.

Anyway, as always, its buyer beware, and read the fine print before opening anything!!!!!!!!

D.

[gadgetguy]

Was the Princessd Bride put out by 20th Century Fox?

No, it was MGM.

[TooLFooL]

wouldn't it be great if all the full-screen tv owners would figure out how to set thier dvd player to "pan & scan", and only widescreen dvd's were produced? damn, that would be GREAT.

[guns1inger]

Unfortunately, P&S doesn't always work as advertised anyway, and often outputs matted letterbox. It would be better if people with 4:3 TVs got over this letterbox phobia and watched widescreen as widescreen - I do. I have too many fullscreen movies (old movies, not butchered movies) to warrent changing to a widescreen TV until large format widescreens have a decent picture quality (I defy anyone to show me an LCD or Plasma screen that has a good picture quality), but I wouldn't butcher my widescreen movies for anything.

If you want to blame anyone, blame Disney and Walmart - the two biggest proponents of the so-called 'Family Friendly' full screen format.

[TooLFooL]

It would be better if people with 4:3 TVs got over this letterbox phobia...

yeah or that too!!

[Snakebyte1]

I guess over time, as new TV all become Widescreen the Fullscreen format will die out, but that will be a long time...

For now, is it asking too much to have the packaging just state what the product inside really is?

Its like buying a carton of orange juice and when you pour it out you get prune juice!!!

If it says Widescreen right at the very top should the movie I buy not be in widescreen??? If I wanted Fullscreen I'd buy fullscreen!

Maybe I can pay them with some money that says $10.00 on it but is really only worth $5.00!!!!!!!!!!