Movie Theater

[s dog]

The other night i went to see bridge to terabithia at the local movie theater but when the movie started it did not fill the whole srceen, there was several ft of empty space on each side of the srceen, I seen this one other time at the same theater, I was wandering why this happens, it kinda bugs me untill i get in to the movie and forget about it. Maybe they was having some kind of trouble with there projector, all movies now days are made in 16:9 right.

[edtyct]

No, movies are anywhere from 1.60:1 to 2.40:1. Many theaters mask unused portions of the screen with curtains.

[jvc]

When I went to rent the movie "The Honeymooners", a while back, it was only in fullscreen, so I refused to rent it. Every video store and retail store, had only fullscreen for that movie. So, if that movie wasn't fullscreen format, at the theaters, it was released on dvd that way.

I'll watch the old classics, in fullscreen on tv, but I won't buy a fullscreen format movie. I did get a concert or two that was fullscreen, but wasn't happy about it.

Quite a few of my friends buy fullscreen movies, because they don't like the black bars. I've tried to explain how they miss almost half of the movie, when they watch a widescreen movie in fullscreen! Also try to tell them if they'll get involved with the movie, they won't notice the black bars. They don't believe me, or don't care. Awhile back, I was tickled to find a very good "extra", on a dvd. Sydney Pollock explains, with demos, how you miss half the movie, doing that. If you want to see what I'm talking about, check in the extras, after the movie "The Interpreter". I now show that to my friends, and whoever else will watch it. He does a better job explaining it, than I do. There are sites online that explains too, but Pollocks is the best I've seen.......... Check it out. It only last about 5-10 minutes.

[anamorphic96]

[QUOTE=s dog]The other night i went to see bridge to terabithia at the local movie theater but when the movie started it did not fill the whole srceen, there was several ft of empty space on each side of the srceen, I seen this one other time at the same theater, I was wandering why this happens, it kinda bugs me untill i get in to the movie and forget about it. Maybe they was having some kind of trouble with there projector, all movies now days are made in 16:9 right.[/QUOTE

There are two formats in film today.

Flat - 1.85:1
Scope - 2.39:1

Bridge To Terabithia is a flat film. The reason you saw empty screen on each side was two things.

1. The theater forgot to change the masking to flat.
2. The theater was not equipped with masking.

I tend to think they forgot to change the masking.

If you would have said something they probably would have corrected the problem. You should not have to do this. But it happens from time to time. But you mentioned it happened before. So they may not have masking capabilities in all auditoriums.

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

a 2.35:1 screen and a 1.85:1 film = grey/black side bars. The exact opposite of grey/black letterboxing on TV when watching 1.78:1 content on a 1.34:1 screen.

[s dog]

Thanks for helping me out guys. They dont have curtains or anything like that at this theater and i didnot know that movies at the theater came in 1.60:1 to 2.40:1. I thought everthing was 16:9 at the theater and the other stuff was only on dvds. thanks agian.

[anamorphic96]

a 2.35:1 screen and a 1.85:1 film = grey/black side bars. The exact opposite of grey/black letterboxing on TV when watching 1.78:1 content on a 1.34:1 screen.

This why movie theaters have masking. So they can crop the image to it's exact ratio. :)