It must be an American thing because here in England, much to my delight, it's pretty damn hard to find a full screen DVD so I never have to worry about it, but when my American Mother-In-Law sends me DVDs, it can get messy. Last year for my birthday she sent me the Last Samurai, which is a movie I really dig and would have bought myself, but she got me the full screen version and now I'm stuck with it (although I intend to replace it one day when the wife isn't looking). This year, she sent me the Aviator, but it was widescreen so all is well.