Dark Knight Blu-ray Question (Merged)

[Dynamo of Eternia]

It's the way the film was made. Some scenes were shot on Imax film, at a different aspect ratio than the rest of the movie.

If I am not mistaken, I believe that the Imax scenes were shot in 16:9, which is the same aspect ratio that is the standard for HDTVs, so those are the scenes that are filling up your whole screen.

The rest of the movie was shot on standard movie film at a much wider aspect ratio, so those are the scenes where you are getting the black bars on the top and bottom.

Nothing is wrong with your TV, your player, or your disc (at least not because of this). It's just the (unusual) way this movie was made.