Aspect ratio can be a surprisingly contentious topic. Just look at when Disney uploaded “The Simpsons” to its Disney+ service in a cropped 16:9 form, prompting an outcry from fans. Well, it seems HBO Max hasn’t learned much from that debacle, as the streamer has now made a similar misstep with Michael Bay’s 1996 blockbuster “The Rock.” Once again, fans aren’t happy.
Specifically, the streamer has added the pan and scan version of “The Rock” to its catalog rather than the widescreen alternative. Over on Reddit, fans have registered their distaste and outright shock at the decision. User sen_clay_davis1 kicked off the conversation on the r/movies subreddit by writing, “HBO can do better. Say what you will about Michael Bay, but ‘The Rock’ is a banger, almost perfect ’90s summer blockbuster. Why would they post a 4:3 cut of this?”
For those unclear about exactly what pan and scan means, it’s a method of cropping widescreen footage to fit the more boxy 4:3 aspect ratio traditionally used by TV networks before the switch to the 16:9 standard. Rather than simply cutting off the edges of the footage, pan and scan saw editors tasked with selecting the most suitable area of the image to show within the 4:3 container, often resulting in awkward pans back and forth across the original footage to, say, show two sides of a conversation. Check out this widescreen vs. pan and scan comparison of 1995’s “Heat” on YouTube for a visual demonstration.
For whatever reason — and Redditors have some theories — HBO Max has now uploaded Bay’s blockbuster in this outdated format. It truly is a strange choice that was guaranteed to stoke at least mild controversy, and that’s exactly what’s happened.
The Rock deserves to be showcased in all its widescreen glory
Alongside Michael Bay’s even more ridiculous “Armageddon,” “The Rock” is one of several quintessential ”90s action blockbusters. You’ve got Sean Connery playing a retired SAS Captain who’s brought in to aid Nicholas Cage’s FBI chemical warfare expert in thwarting the plans of an extremist group of ex-Marines to launch chemical weapons at San Francisco. It’s one of Connery’s best films — a knowingly absurd and endlessly enjoyable action thriller that fans have also speculated could be a secret James Bond movie. Unfortunately, if you watch it on HBO Max, your enjoyment will be significantly hindered by the fact that Bay’s explosive popcorn movie plays out in a box. Needless to say, fans are somewhat taken aback, to say the least.
One Redditor writes, “Surely at this point there’s a normal expectation that any film played through streaming or even TV be broadcast at close to its original aspect ratio and not a 4:3 pan and scan.” Another simply couldn’t get past the fact that “a major streaming service isn’t showing a film the way it’s intended to be shown,” and yet another asked, “Why do these pan and scan versions even exist in 2026?”
Indeed, pan and scan essentially represents a solution to a problem that hasn’t existed for almost two decades. Why such a cut would show up in 2026 is a bit of a mystery, but plenty of Redditors have their theories, and it seems likely that some sort of needlessly complex licensing issues might be to blame.
Why does HBO Max have an outdated version of The Rock?
Many Redditors have speculated that licensing is at the root of this latest issue. As one user points out:
“HBO Max isn’t just HBO content anymore. It’s Warner Bros. Entertainment, Discovery Channel, HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Animal Planet, TBS, & TNT. If the 4:3 cut was in say, TBSs or TNTs bitbucket, then that’s what gets posted if that’s all they have the license to.”
It seems likely that back in the day some subsidiary of Warner Bros. — the entity that owns the HBO brand — paid for the license to broadcast the pan and scan version of “The Rock,” and this is the version that’s now available on the streamer. Why it’s only appearing in the catalog now, however, is yet another mystery.
It could be that HBO Max was prohibited from showcasing the film while another platform had the streaming rights. Now that those rights have lapsed, perhaps HBO is once again able to air the film under whatever TV license was originally signed. Even then, you’d surely want to avoid the kind of fan backlash that’s currently brewing — though Warner Bros. admittedly has much bigger things to worry about than whether “The Rock” is streamed in a box.
That said, the streamer hasn’t done the best job of satisfying its subscribers. Back in 2021/22, HBO Max quietly removed several shows and movies, and in the process reminded us all why physical media still matters. “The Rock” debacle isn’t quite as egregious. If anything, it’s sort of interesting to see these vestiges of a bygone time surfacing in 2026. That is, unless you were planning on enjoying a “The Rock” rewatch on HBO Max this week.
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