Movies with Alternate and/or Variable Aspect Ratios

[Riddhi2011]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

We will never see it. After Aliens Cameron decided that he liked the 2.39:1 ratio from Super 35mm better than the 1.85:1 ratio from standard 35mm. As a matter of fact the only reason Avatar is 1.78:1 is because of its IMAX exhibitions.

I think Cameron now prefers 1.78:1 more than 2.39:1. The scope 3D version of Avatar that I saw on the theatres looked horribly tight. It was a waste of money. The IMAX version still loses some info from the sides, but the framing is impressive. Which is why he never released the 2.39 version on BD.
And seeing that he again recomposed Titanic to 1.78:1 for both IMAX and Blu Ray 3D I think he now prefers the Full HD ratio over the scope one. He also realises that a lot of consumers and fans want to watch a larger ratio on IMAX screens and then want to re-create that experience at home. So I think his next ventures will also be composed primarily for 1.78:1.

[Geoff D]

That's funny, I watched the Avatar BD cropped to 2.35 when I had a 21:9 TV and it looked great. In 1.78 I can see shots where they're physically moving the camera to keep heads in the 2.35 frame, only they're perfectly in frame in the opened-up 1.78 so the camera move is now completely extraneous. The VFX reels in the extras discs are in 2.35 also.