Willy Wonka in Widescreen Petition

[BadAsh]

I am sure many of you are waiting for the new 30th Anniversary DVD release of "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" but you may not know that Warner Brothers has pulled a fast one on its release.

Initially the DVD was set to include both an Anamorphic Widescreen version presenting the movie in its OAR as well as a Pan and Scan version. The fine folks at WB have decided that since Wonka is a "family" movie that it should be presented the way "families" are used to seeing video... cut, cropped and generally messed up.

This is a total travesty!

Please visit the Willy Wonka in Widescreen petition and add your name to the growing list of DVD enthusiasts who wish that WB would present this classic movie in its original aspect ratio.

www.PetitionOnline.com/wonkadvd/petition.html

Tell all your friends, and post it on other message boards!

Even if you aren't a fan of the movie but are a videophile who appreciates the filmmaker's original intent please voice your opinion and tell WB that OAR is an absolute must for this and other releases.

[AntnyMD]

Thats interesting ... Warner Brothers is usually very good about releasing 16:9 DVDs, even of back catalog crap, even of animation (like the Batman vids I saw at Circuit City the other month).

Maybe someone in their press department screwed up and it really is going to be a widescreen edition.

[BadAsh]

For more information on this travesty, check out the following articles:

Comments from TheDigitalBits
www.thedigitalbits.com/#wonkawierd

Daily Editorial from DVDFile
www.dvdfile.com/news/editorial/index.html#08072001

Along with the petition you can also contact Warner Brothers to voice your concern:

Phone: 818-954-6000
E-Mail: customerservice@wb.com

Join in and tell Warner Brothers that we want the OAR!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BadAsh on 2001-08-07 07:05:19 ]</font>

[BadAsh]

The latest info is that WB has been getting alot of calls from angry fans, including resellers and while they still plan to release just the "Pan and Scan" version they are now considering a future "Widescreen" release.

This is information taken from the answering machine at Customer Service.

If you haven't signed the Petition please do. Even if you aren't a fan of "Willy Wonka". We need to tell Warner as well as the rest of the DVD Studios that we want our Widescreen DVDs and no matter what their research tells them, "Widescreen" is more popular than they think and is the only thing acceptable to Video enthusiasts.

Aside from signing the petition you can also call the WB Customer Service line and/or write them an E-Mail. Please see the contact info listed above.

The Petition is well over 6,000 signatures today. At an average sale price of $19 that would be a loss of $114,000.00 to WB if all 6,000 signees did not buy the DVD.

Hopefully Warner as well as other studios will soon learn that movies are recorded Widescreen and that is how it should be presented on DVD. Pan and Scan is always an option for "that" market but Widescreen should be a requirement at all times.

Do your part to retain your rights to the OAR and the director's original intent.