Reclaiming Your Screen
Most movies are typically presented in a widescreen format. The shape of the screen is usually written as a ratio of the width of the screen versus the length (hence, “aspect ratio”). The ultrawide film format has a ratio of 2.39:1, meaning the screen is 2.39 times as wide as it is tall. Meanwhile, the Imax Expanded Aspect Ratio is 1.9:1, which is considerably taller at the same width.
When movies use Imax cameras, they usually shoot some sequences, like action scenes, in this aspect ratio—as Marvel did for
Doctor Strange and
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2—or somewhat more rarely, the entire movie, as was the case for
Avengers: Infinity War and
Avengers: Endgame. These scenes, or entire films, are larger and more impactful, especially when viewed in Imax theaters.
The problem? When these movies are formatted for home distribution, they're typically stuck with just the ultrawide aspect ratio. All those Imax shots are cropped down, which means anything outside the shorter frame will be missing from the version you watch online. Most of the time it's not a major issue, but it does mean the movie looks a little different. More annoyingly, the film is letterboxed with giant black bars on the top and bottom.
The new Imax Enhanced format reclaims a huge chunk of that screen real estate. There's still a little bit of black bar space—TVs usually have an aspect ratio of 1.77:1, which is slightly taller—but you're getting about a 26 percent larger picture than traditional ultra-widescreen movies.
Sometimes, when streaming services try to fix the letterboxing problem, they do so in ways that negatively affect the picture. For example, when Disney scaled up
The Simpsons to fill the screen all the way to the sides, it ended up
cropping out some details that were essential for certain jokes to land. With this new Imax Enhanced format, that space is being filled by parts of the picture that were there when the cameras first recorded the movie. You're gaining data instead of losing it.
That said, you still have the option to watch these movies without the Imax aspect ratio, and you just might want to.
Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson
says on Twitter that, while he specifically shot certain sequences in Imax, they were framed intentionally for both aspect ratios, and he never intended the Imax aspect ratio for home viewing. (He
later added that he liked how the new Imax version plays, but still prefers the fully widescreen version for home viewing.)
Disney+ has added a new way to stream Marvel movies. We break down what it means and if you can take advantage of it.
www.wired.com
