Warner Home Video has delayed the 16 May release date for John Carpenter’s latest horror film The Ward, according to Future Publishing’s DVD magazines. The UK version was temporarily shelved after a film critic noticed a problem with its aspect ratio.
Home Cinema Choice’s Anton van Beek, who is described on the magazine’s blog as “a die-hard John Carpenter uber-geek”, spotted that the film was framed at 1.78:1.
The HCC news editor described this as “a real shock as Carpenter has always been a major proponent of Panavision-style 2.35:1 framing in his previous work.”
Warner Home Video contacted HCC to confirm it would be delaying the release date.
“The current Blu-ray and DVD configurations of The Ward are not in the preferred aspect ratio of Warner Home Video UK. In order to release The Ward in the theatrically shot aspect ratio of 2.35 we are moving the release date to October 10,” a Warner spokesperson said.