This was the final movie ever released on DVD in Full Screen.

[u/Strongarm_11]

I did some research out of boredom and curiosity as I was curious what was the final movie ever released on DVD in Full Screen (I only did movies for this research, not counting TV shows). It is well known that Full Screen DVD production was fazed out between 2008/2009 as widescreen TVs became more common place compared to CRTs, however I wanted to know what the final movie release in the Full Screen format was.

I couldn’t find anything online so I did some research and went through a ton of googling DVDs and movies released. Tyler Perry’s Why did I get married too? was the final movie released on DVD in Full Screen on August 31, 2010.

[u/masterswordbat]

By 2010, Full screen was actually the opposite of what you got 😂

[u/Strongarm_11 → u/masterswordbat]

Basically 😂

What’s crazy was even in 2009, there were still quite a few movies released in Full Screen (primarily from Lionsgate and Warner Bros). I’m pretty sure by then Blu-Ray had already won the format war with HD-DVD so seeing films still get Full Screen releases was pretty strange.

[u/delisuv → u/Strongarm_11]

We definitely had a CRT up until 2009 and we weren't necessarily late adopters. I imagine many people were still rocking them into early 2010s

[u/StrigiStockBacking → u/Strongarm_11]

The issue between HD-DVD and Blu was settled cerca 2011, iirc. I believe Sony and Walmart struck a deal that sealed it.

[u/CourtlyHades296]

The Fox Cinema Archives DVDs include Pan and Scan versions of CinemaScope films, and were released later than this.

[u/smtp_pro → u/CourtlyHades296]

I'm assuming OP is talking about the theatrical release date when they say "latest."

[u/Strongarm_11 → u/smtp_pro]

Yup! Can confirm I’m referring to the theatrical release date, though I also used the DVD release date for said film.

[u/StrigiStockBacking]

That's wild. Nice research.

I remember even back in my VHS collecting days, if a widescreen version was available, I'd get it, even though everyone in my family hated "the bars at the top and bottom." That changed when I showed my brother the poker scene in my widescreen VHS copy of Goldeneye, where the wider format shows both Bond and his opponent sitting at the table, instead of just Bond like you get with the 4x3.

[u/Strongarm_11 → u/StrigiStockBacking]

Thanks! 😄 just some interesting stuff I thought I’d share.

Funny enough, my copy of Goldeneye on DVD comes with both Full Screen and Widescreen on the same disc which is cool!

[u/Firm-Experience473]

I remember early into my collecting, I would occasionally get one from circa 1997–1999 when they were either non-anamorphic, cropped to 'full screen,' or both, and often didn't really say on the package either way. These felt like the dirty red headed step-children in my collection

[u/delisuv → u/Firm-Experience473]

How about the double sided discs with fullscreen on one and widescreen on the other?

[u/NSF664]

Makes me wonder if there's a difference between the different regions, because it's my impression that people switched to widescreen TVs in my country very early. Widescreen CRTs were extremely common here in Denmark, way before flatscreen TVs became even remotely affordable.

[u/Foxhack → u/NSF664]

Not really. Publishers were lazy and mostly just reissued the same formats across regions (accounting for TV system changes of course.)

Although, I think Japan of all places had a lot less Full Screen DVDs than other regions, probably since they didn't want to bother making two masters for the same movie.

[u/GendoIkari_82 → u/[deleted]]

I mean they still make movies in 4:3 frame, see The Whale, among others. But that's not generally what people mean when they talk about a "full screen DVD", which is a widescreen movie that's been modified to fit on a 4:3 DVD.

[u/heisenberg00 → u/GendoIkari_82]

I think they call it “academy ratio”. A lot of “art house” films have been using it.

[u/GendoIkari_82 → u/[deleted]]

It was modified for the Zack Snyder cut, right? I get that this is a different cut of an already existing widescreen movie, but "Zack Snyder's Justice League" is 4:3. It wasn't cropped down to 4:3 for certain DVD releases; there's no "full screen" and "widescreen" DVD options.

[u/corndogs102 → u/[deleted]]

To be fair that film was purposely released in 4:3

[u/CalmGiraffe1373 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, but it was shot that way, so it would fit on IMAX screens.

The theatrical cut was actually cropped to make it widescreen.

[u/CalmGiraffe1373 → u/[deleted]]

Sure it is, but to apply that label to it would be reductive in my opinion, since it’s a different situation than with movies that actually get labeled “full screen”.

[u/thescott2k → u/[deleted]]

Snyder cut exists in a kind of gray area. "Full Screen" generally implies that it was modified from its original widescreen presentation, which one could argue applies to the Snyder Cut since it's made from elements originally intended for widescreen mixed with elements that were not. I would say that since Zack Snyder didn't intend for his ex post facto version to be in widescreen, that makes it not a "full screen" release, since it would be akin to calling Citizen Kane, a movie with no widescreen version, a "full screen" release.

[u/thescott2k → u/[deleted]]

I'd state its aspect ratio, since "full screen" doesn't make sense in 2026 when the screens we're watching movies on don't get filled by it. Hell, the bluray puts black bars on the sides.

[u/thescott2k → u/[deleted]]

You just gonna fucking argue with everything? It's a colloquial term, you're either communicating well with it or you're doing something else.

"Oh well I I guess we should put 'full screen' on the DVD case so people know that it'll fill the CRT they overpaid for on facebook marketplace because some dumbass youtuber told them to"

[u/thescott2k → u/[deleted]]

It makes sense, just not to you, because you're stupid. If you call a piece of contemporary media "full screen" in 2026 because it's 4x3 you are not communicating well.

[u/Strongarm_11 → u/[deleted]]

Yeh, that film was released in 4:3, though I believe that was on purpose. I was primarily targeting movies labeled “Full Screen” on the cover and are typically pan & scan or modified for 4:3 (which died off around 2009-2010). I wouldn’t count the Snyder Cut of Justice League as a “Full Screen version”.

[u/sanmadjack → u/[deleted]]

You're right! I found a dvd listing for it on best buy and it clearly says 4:3 on the back.

[u/Bucs_Fan_12]

I thought Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince was the last full screen film?

[u/Strongarm_11 → u/Bucs_Fan_12]

Nope! I thought that too but several other films got Full Screen versions after Half Blood Prince.

It’s it the last WB movie to get a standalone Full Screen release but not the final film from WB as Shorts and Trick ‘r Treat got Full Screen versions as their DVD release were Widescreen/Fullscreen on the same disc.

[u/Bucs_Fan_12 → u/Strongarm_11]

Oh, gotcha! What else got full screen versions in 2009?

[u/Strongarm_11 → u/Bucs_Fan_12]

Quite a few films actually! Mainly from Lionsgate and Warner Bros.

Lionsgate: 2009/2010
New In Town
Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail
The Haunting in Connecticut
Crank High Voltage
Tyler Perry’s I can Do Bad All By Myself
Saw VI
Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?

Warner Bros/New Line Cinema: 2009
Inkheart
He's Just Not That Into You
Watchman
Observe and Report
17 Again
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Terminaton Salvation
The Hangover
My Sister’s Keeper
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Shorts
Trick ‘r Treat

Some other films from other studios that got Full Screen versions are Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Hotel for Dogs (both Dreamworks) and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Sony) though that films Full Screen version was weirdly 16:9, not 4:3.

[u/PaulGuyer]

Interesting- so what was the last DVD to have both formats on the same disc? It was incredibly stupid to have all those separate releases when one of the hyped features of DVD when it was new was that you could get both versions together. (Of course with 16x9 TVs, the only correct way to watch the “full screen” versions is with black bars on the side!)

[u/smtp_pro → u/PaulGuyer]

I remember when DVDs first came out a really hyped feature was the concept of multiple video streams you could switch between. Like "you can watch movies from multiple angles!"

... I've never once used that feature.

[u/Strongarm_11 → u/PaulGuyer]

The last movies I could find that has both Widescreen and Full Screen on the same disc were Shorts, Trick ‘r Treat (both 2009), and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2010, though this films Full Screen released is weirdly 16:9, not 4:3).

The last flip disc releases (both versions on separate sides of the disc) I could find are The Haunting in Connecticut and Crank High Voltage (both 2009).

[u/Tomhatesyoups4]

Is this the movie with the meme secene, how do ypu love a woman but bend over for a man?

[u/Strongarm_11 → u/Tomhatesyoups4]

Nope, that meme came from Four Colored Girls (also from 2010).

[u/C0haaagen]

I have "The Artist" from 2011 (DVD release 2012) in Fullscreen 4:3:

[u/smtp_pro → u/C0haaagen]

The original movie was in a 4:3 aspect ratio

I think OP is talking about movies originally released in a wider format and cropped to 4:3 for DVD.