Widescreen DVD Update on MTI and MCC

[Phillip]

I wanted to give everybody an update on a couple issues related to getting Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island released on widescreen DVD.

Disney has received more than 1200 phone calls related to getting these discs released on widescreen since promotion across the Web broke earlier this week. In addition to Muppet Central, other DVD sites such as www.dvdfile.com and www.thedigitalbits.com and multiple DVD forums have been promoting the campaign to get these released in widescreen as well. The calls ARE making a difference, and this campaign is gaining momentum.

I've also been told "unofficially" from a different source that Disney does indeed have an anamorphic 16:9 transfer of Muppet Treasure Island already completed! It's been done for awhile. They're just trying to stay with the "family line" of full screen discs UNLESS they continue to receive a lot of calls about this. So keep on calling and writing. I was shocked to hear that they already have the widescreen transfer done but are not wanting to release it. There is a short-window to get this done from a time perspective though.

Thought everybody would find this info helpful in light of the discussions.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Everyone CALL CALL CALL CALL Disney. Also, you can contact Henson Company and let them know that you want them to step in an take action on your behalf. Let them know that as muppet fans you really want their films in widescreen. They don't have direct control over these titles that Disney owns but they *do* have INFLUENCE. Tell them to use it.

Go to henson.com website and email every contact you can find. Call the phone numbers and ask to speak with their PR reps and talk to them directly (you have this right!).

Be polite to them, and let them know that the reason you care so much is because you're a muppet fan who wants to see his/her muppet films shown in their original widescreen format regardless of the studio that "owns" the rights to the DVD release.

Go to it!!!

 

[Thog]

Amazon has listed the extras on the Treasure Island DVD.

Edition Details:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned
• The Tale of the Story
• Beyond the Tail Treasure Island Sing Along
• Hidden Treasure
• Commentary
• Full-screen format

 

[smcguire]

Thanks for forwarding the details, Thog."Full screen format" is not a feature. Grumble.

It's hard to believe they've bothered to get commentary and extras - features aimed at collectors - and yet not put a widescreen version of the film out. Who do they think they're marketing this release to? Sheesh.