Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan (wrong aspect ratio)! update- mmm.. nope

[LordCrumb]

[BellesPrince]

The only person I can see complaining here is the original poster.

[garyrc]

Well, you'd have to get inside the director's head -- or ask -- to answer the following question, but ..... at a time when many films -- especially Sci Fi & Sci Fant in the wake of Star Wars 5 years before -- premiered in 70 mm (the Bay Area had 8 theaters capable of 70 mm and they often had 70 mm running), which AR would the director have foremost in his mind while shooting? If and when there was a conflict, which would the director favor in composing shots, if s/he was active in the fine details of composition? Which would the DP and the operators favor?

I can't answer for them, but If I expected my film to premiere in 70 mm, expected the metro film buffs, critics, film professors, film historians, etc., to see it in 70 mm, and expected the 35 mm prints to be distributed in that geographical area anywhere from a month to many months later, I would visualize it in 70 mm @ 2.20:1, and favor that shape in composition, if 2.20:1 and 2.39:1 were not equally effective in some shots. Even though most 70 mm films of that time were (regrettably) blow-ups from 35 mm anamorphic camera film, if I had the assurances of the studio that there would be 70 mm, 2.20:1, prints, I would look to my intentions, and consider 2.20:1 to be the OAR, given that it was the original in my mind's eye.