I wish the movie itself was in that expanded ratio. I wonder if they cropped it to 2.39:1.
Anyway, I think it ultimately comes down to the fact that 2.4:1 is a standard AR while 2.61:1 isn’t. Probably also to match with the other Star Wars movies.
But why bother to use the lenses used on Ben-Hur if you’re just going to crop it in the end? What was gained?
You’re still capturing a wider image than the sensor would have with a spherical lens while still using almost the entire available sensor area (1.9 of the available 2.1). This way you’re getting 2.4:1 instead of 2.1:1. Come to think of it, 2.1:1 also isn’t a standard AR. If they’d gone spherical it would’ve been cropped at the top and bottom to 2.35:1 like The Revenant, but I’m guessing Edwards still wanted a certain look for this first standalone movie of the franchise.
We kept hearing about how this was going to be a war movie, and the Ultra Panavisions call to mind films like Khartoum and Battle of the Bulge.