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by Brad Wilson.
Original Post: Will 16x9 Kill Widescreen Movies?
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I've noticed a trend that is a little worrying... when watching HD movies from cable, almost all of them seem to be in 16x9 (1.78:1), regardless of what ratio the movie was shown in the theaters. This is especially true for newer movies. Many of the movie lovers that I know refused to buy pan & scan movies, even when their television was ill-suited for rendering the image, because they wanted to preserve the entire experience.
Questions for the day:
Will DVDs (or even HD-DVDs) start to be released in a quasi-widescreen 16x9 pan & scan format? Does the "Widescreen" label on a DVD really indicate that the movie is presented in its original theatrical format?
Will movie makers choose to (or be forced to) optimize for 16x9 by filming movies in 16x9 friendly formats like 1.85:1 instead of the more panoramic ratios like 2.2:1 and 2.35:1?
The second question is the one that really bothers me. The anamorphic 35mm 2.35:1 ratio is especially popular because of the amount of information that can be packed into the picture. These movies have an enveloping feel when seen in theaters that narrower ratios just can't seem to match. Will those movies have the same impact if they have only have 75% as much picture?
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