List of Blu-ray with altered aspect ratios

List of Blu-ray with altered aspect ratios (last update: 2014/03/11)

Notes:

om = open matte
cr = cropped
DA = Director Approved

Latest additions in bold. DVD will be added only as "exception that proves the rule". NO 1.85:1 to 1.78:1 will be listed. All titles are US releases unless noted otherwise; may be also worldwide valid.

List of media with different versions from BD could be found here.

Well done!

If you have That 70's Show Season 1, you should include the Blu-rays of Friends and Cheers which do the same.

Enchanted has a variable AR? I never noticed...

You can include just about every '50s Academy picture (at least U.S. releases), cause they were all matted to 1.85:1 in theaters. Then there's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which was filmed in Academy, but was blown up to the SuperScope 2:1 ratio for theatrical release, and 16mm prints with more visual information on the top and bottom, but less on the sides exist. This Island Earth is another example of the process.

I've done a 1.85:1 version of Gigantis, the Fire Monster myself.

doubleofive said:

Well done!

Thanks!

If you have That 70's Show Season 1, you should include the Blu-rays of Friends and Cheers which do the same.

Please be more specific...

Enchanted has a variable AR? I never noticed...

 Dunno, entries are taken mainly from other lists...

Space Hunter M said:

You can include just about every '50s Academy picture (at least U.S. releases), cause they were all matted to 1.85:1 in theaters.

About these releases: as the 1.37:1 was the OAR (original A/R), but the 1.85:1 was the IAR (intended A/R), unless the BD has the OAR they will be not listed here; you are welcome to add the latter titles!

dvdmike said:

The recruit on DVD was 1.85:1 the BD and Cinema release were 2.35:1

Thanks, I will add this, but... is it cropped or open matte?

mumbles3k (from this thread) said:

Including all movies that have been shown open matte is basically the HD equivalent of including movies that have been panned and scanned. It's standard operating procedure to make a 1.78 master of 2.39 movies that were shot in Super 35 or HD. It would be a really long and kind of pointless list, because most times, they're only shown on TV, and not even the filmmakers themselves have watched them.

I don't think so...we are in a preservation forum, and it will be interesting for us to know if there are open matte version of our preferred movie; even if 1.78:1 open matte is not the intended aspect ratio, sometimes "more is more"... (^^,)

Also, if there are some P&S BD versions they MUST be listed here!

Plus, it could be useful if someone wants to make a project using the open matte "as is", or a variable aspect ratio a la Dark Knight...

There was a big discussion in my Holy Grail thread, and the consensus seemed to be that even though the US theatrical AR for the film was 1.85:1, the UK theatrical AR was 1.66:1.  So the Blu-ray release isn't really an alteration from theatrical AR, is was just shown in different AR's in different markets, and they picked a different one than they'd used for some earlier home video releases.

There are two different versions of the North American BluRay release of Brooklyn's Finest. The Canadian VVS Films version has the cropped 1.78:1 aspect ratio while the Anchor Bay release contains the full aspect ratio.

RoboCop (1987)

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

If you have That 70's Show Season 1, you should include the Blu-rays of Friends and Cheers which do the same.

Please be more specific...

What about Star Trek VI.  The blu ray is the theatrical scope  and there has always been debate over what the intended ratio was since they shot it on super35.

I have never been able to find a satisfactory answer for why Meyer used super35 instead of the same format as wrath of khan.

As for tv broadcasts of films and tv shows being not oar but zoomed in or fake widescreen that is another whole topic and something that disgusts me as much as dvnr if not more.

Avatar also has different aspect ratios for the theatrical and home video releases.

In his own words...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqwCQQ4qIXw

Following your suggestions, I updated and modified the list in this thread to include only BD (and few DVD); a new thread is started here to include media with different versions from BD (for preservation purpose).

So from now on, this list will include ONLY Blu-rays with altered aspect ratios (DVDs will be added only as notable exceptions); any other aspect ratio issue related to different media, along with color grading, extended and theatrical cuts, missing shots/scenes discussions should be posted in the thread mentioned above.Thanks to everyone!

It should be noted that the fullscreen DVD of "A Bug's Life" is mostly Pan and Scan. They only recomposited certain scenes where cropping would cut off key details, so it's not really much different from most full screen films. (I also think they did this recompositing with a couple of other Pixar films.)

Added Star Trek III - thanks to doubleofive

From the other thread:

doubleofive said:

I thought of another one, Star Trek III. The intro flashback to the end of II and the opening credits are in 2:1, the rest is 2.35:1.

_,,,^..^,,,_ is using this list for movies that have variable ratios in the movie and ratios different on Blu-ray release.

Right; as I'd like to continue with this list, and AFAIK Star Trek III had the same variable AR also in theaters, I should delete it. So it is now deleted.

Chewtobacca said:

It belongs in the other thread then. What's on the BD is not an alteration.

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

Right; as I'd like to continue with this list, and AFAIK Star Trek III had the same variable AR also in theaters, I should delete it. So it is now deleted.

Oso is correct... the opening credits for Star Trek III have now been "windowboxed" on the Blu-ray presentation.  The DVD never did that.  A lot of the James Bond films on BD suffer the same credits treatment unfortunately (OHMSS for example).

I just want to note a film that is not altered for BD, but has the most mind blowing use of variable aspect ratios within a movie ever.  That film is More American Graffiti.  Has anyone ever seen this?  It basically follows three different stories throughout the film.  Each character's story is presented in a different aspect ratio.  I realize it's not part of this list as it's represented correctly on BD, same as the theatrical presentation.  I'm just pointing out that I've never seen another film that took this concept quite so far.  Not a great sequel by any means, but the John Milner character arc is the best and it's presented in pristine scope.