The plot thickens. . .

Straight from the Digital Bits website:

And here's a little something that's very interesting: Our friend Arnaud Calistri, who runs the DVDRama.com website in France, e-mailed me yesterday to say that Fox France has confirmed with him that the original versions of the Star Wars films to be released on DVD there will be in anamorphic widescreen (enhanced for widescreen 16x9 TVs). As many of you know, they were announced for release here in the States and elsewhere in non-anamorphic (letterboxed) widescreen only, causing a furor among fans (and rightly so). This news, if true, means one of two things: Either Lucasfilm quickly got their act together when fans complained and created new anamorphic masters for the DVD release everywhere (and it just hasn't been announced here in the States yet), or France is getting better DVDs that the rest of the world. If they DID get their act together, expect Lucasfilm's fan relations guru, Steve Sansweet, to make a massive deal about it at the company's Star Wars panel at Comic-Con next week. If they DIDN'T get their act together, and France IS getting better discs, expect fans to make a massive deal about it. We'll ask all the right people to see if we can find out the truth of the matter. Of course, we'll let you know.

Hmmmmmm. . .

Too much to hope for. . . again, from Digital Bits. . .

We've got some more interesting standard DVD news to report today, starting with a follow-up on that French Star Wars DVD controversy we mentioned the other day. We've gotten a follow-up e-mail from our friend Arnaud at DVDRama in France. He's actually had the chance to see, with his own two eyes, the new Star Wars DVDs being released there, and it turns out Fox France was wrong. Someone in marketing over there apparently still doesn't know what anamorphic means. The special edition versions of the films on Disc One of each set are anamorphic, but the original theatrical editions on Disc Two of each are definitely NOT anamorphic. They're just letterboxed widescreen as we expected. Fox France has apparently apologized for the confusion, and we definitely appreciate Arnaud's efforts in confirming the truth of the situation. France is getting the same sub-par Star Wars DVDs as the rest of us. 'Nuff said.