[Narrator] Which looks better?
This,
or that?
Well, what if I told you that you may have been
paying a premium to see the worst version.
You know those black bars you sometimes see on the
top, bottom or sides of a movie?
They occur because movies are filmed at different
frame sizes, or aspect ratios.
"Lady Bird", shot in widescreen
should appear differently than "Star Wars",
which was shot in Cinemascope.
A Cinemascope movie on your TV will have
black bars on the top and bottom,
while a movie theater masks the frame
with retractable curtains.
These curtains at Night Hawk Cinema in Brooklyn
absorb the light and create a frame around
the projected image.
But take away the curtains and...
- When you don't have masking what happens is
you've got this gray area of screen
which isn't reflecting picture,
it's not reflecting image.
It just sort of sits there and looks ugly.
There is a move afoot by some theater circuits,
I guess in order to save money,
that have decided that, that's a waste of money
and they're not gonna do it.
[Narrator] That's Chapin Cutler.
He's been working in the projection and theater business
for over 40 years.
The empty screen space can be distracting
and takes away from the immersive experience
of seeing a movie on the big screen.
Another problem?
Projector brightness,
which can be affected by the age and cleanliness
of the bulb, along with any dirt or smudges
that may be on the window of the projection booth.
Some "Solo" attendees reported seeing extremely dark
almost unviewable projections
with a few saying that they had to struggle to see
what was on screen.
- If the standard that's been established for the
amount of light that is supposed to be on the screen
isn't there, then not only does the picture look dark
but you don't see anything that goes on in the shadows.
All of that information disappears.
[Narrator] And if there was a 3D showing
in the theater before a standard 2D showing
a lens meant only for 3D movies may still be
on the projector making the image two thirds darker
than it should be.
- Showing something like that with a very low light level
is gonna take away from it.
If that's the experience you walk away with
that's going to impede your positive judgment
of the film, and that's just gonna ruin it for you.
[Narrator] Hurting both the team behind the movie
and its viewers, and possibly creating customers
who may not come back to that theater
for a subpar experience.
These issues aren't limited to "Solo."
The past few years have seen numerous reports
of theaters not doing enough to ensure quality screenings.
Standard 2D movie tickets average about $9.00 in the U.S.
And almost twice that in places like New York City.
But is the price of admission worth seeing a movie
that is not being shown the way it is meant to?
You can get a full 4K movie for 15 bucks.
Why bother with what may be a questionable
theater presentation if you can get cinema-like
quality at home?
The picture may be bigger, and the sound may be better
but if you're having a bad theater experience, take note.
If a theater has a dark blurry picture
or leaves empty areas of the screen unmasked
try a different theater.
Many are still working hard to bring you
the best picture possible.