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How many pixels to crop in order to fill a 16:9 screen?

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My grandfather is a huge Star Wars fan, and he loves to watch the films, but he has that same pet peeve anyone not knowledgeable about aspect ratios has, and I quote:

"When I buy a widescreen TV, I shouldn't have to look at those black bars all the time!"

Well, for his birthday this April, I want to give him what he wants: Star Wars movies that fill up the entire screen without stretching. The zoom feature on our TV is Godawful, plus it cuts off the subtitles, so that's not a viable solution. Problem is, I'm not sure exactly how many pixels to crop off each side of the picture (I'm using Womble). I'm not going to pretend to know how many pixels are in a DVD image or which way they go, so try not to laugh when I give these figures. Corrections are expected and very welcome.

The resolution of an NTSC DVD (that's what I'm using) is 720x480. Since an anamorphic image is wider than it is tall, I assumed the 720 is horizontal resolution (again, please don't hit me). The Star Wars films were shot in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio (43:18 is a more exact figure). After some math, that means that a 16:9 TV is ~74.42% as wide as a theoretical 2.39:1 TV would be. So, I figured cropping off the offending black areas and then cropping off ~12.79% of the picture from the right and left. Since a 16:9 TV and the theoretical 2.39:1 TV would have the same height, the height minus the black bars on a 16:9 TV would hold the same size comparison to the height of the 2.39 TV that the width did (~74.42%). So the black bars take up ~12.79% from both the top and the bottom. So, that's 12.79% from all sides. If the width is 720 pixels, that's 92 pixels from the left and right, and 61 pixels from the top and bottom.

Okay, I screwed up, didn't I? Please enlighten me.
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The widescreen tv will be 1.78:1, and Star Wars will be 2:35:1. Two differently sized rectangles. You can't "get rid" of the black bars, because filling it video information would mean the people onscreen will be taller than normal. It would be like watching Star Wars in a funhouse mirror that makes you look skinner. Sure, your head and feet will be at the very top and bottom, but it'll look ridiculous.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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I know that. That's why I want to cut off all sides of the picture until it fits the 16:9 ratio. Again, by my calculations, that's ~12.79% from each side. I know I'm going to lose over a quarter of the picture. Problem is, I don't know how many pixels that translates into. Were my calculations correct or not?
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With all due respect, you're going about this situation the wrong way. Make the video with womble as best you can, and use that in comparison with the original video to show your grandpa why the video has black bars, and how much video (and detail) he would be missing out on if it were zoomed in.

I would hope that, at that point, he'd understand why the black bars are a necessary evil, and between them and Pan&Scan, the lesser of two evils.

If that didn't work, then I woulnd't waste too much time making such fine adjustments for a preferred P&S version, but that's just my opinion.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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Crop off roughly 80-88 pixels on each side(I don't know how much overscan your grand ftaher has on his tv) and then crop off the black bars. Resize the resulting image to 720x480. If that's what your grandfather likes just go ahead and do it. Don't lecture him on aspect ratios... he won't care.