There is allegedly a clause in the studio's contract for the film that mandates that the movie must always be shown in letterbox format in any home video release and/or TV/cable broadcast.
Woody Allen disliked his work in this film so much he offered to direct another film for United Artists for free if they kept this one on the shelf for good. Allen later reportedly said, "I just thought to myself, 'At this point in my life, if this is the best I can do, they shouldn't give me money to make movies'."
After the success of Annie Hall (1977), United Artists executives told Woody Allen's
producers, Charles H. Joffe and Jack Rollins, to give Allen a message, "From now on, make whatever you want".
According to Jeff Stafford at the TCMDb, "When 'Manhattan' was first released, there was some criticism leveled at the film for its depiction of a romance between a teenager and a 42-year-old man but several biographical sources have suggested that the relationship had a real-life parallel in Woody Allen's two-year romance with actress Stacey Nelkin. Reportedly, Allen met Nelkin on the set of Annie Hall (1977) when she was a mere 17-year-old extra (her small part ended up on the cutting room floor). Certain aspects of the Isaac-Tracy relationship may also have been inspired by Allen's real-life correspondence with 13-year-old pen pal Nancy Jo Sales".