In fact, I have never heard of such a thing. I don't know of any typically used process of filming in 4:3 and latter cropping to widescreen.
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Most people given the choice in a cinema would choose widescreen so I'm not sure what these directors are trying to achieve, except to please a US TV market which doesn't so far like widescreen. This can give the impression that 4:3 has more content. It's true to say a few directors shoot in 'Academy' format - the old 4:3 aspect - and the films are later 'matted' for widescreen presentation. You'll find that this topic has ben discussed to death on these pages before. By the time we all have 40" flicker-free flat panel TVs, I think that anything other than OAR will be increasingly unacceptable (and that includes broadcast movies). 2.35:1 looks fine on a 16:9 set, once you get used to it. 2.35:1 does look a bit small on a 4:3 TV, but you can always zoom it in a little if it annoys you. There may have been some grumbling at first, but most people are perfectly happy with it now.
I think our OAR-only releases are a good thing. Sometimes they're sold together on a double-sided disc, with a different version on each side. Sometimes 'fullscreen' and theatrical versions are sold seperately. In the US you can always get DVD movies in 4:3 format because widescreen only applies to HDTV, and most people still have 4:3 TV sets (and non-HDTV programming is still 4:3). Here in the UK almost all DVD movies are OAR (original aspect ratio), due to the decision taken many years ago to change the aspect ratio of UK broadcast TV to 16:9. It's interesting to compare the UK region 2 DVD market to the American region 1.
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