Originally posted by: Rebel11_38
With anamorphic widescreen the black bars aren't burned into the movie.

That is not universally true. It is only true for material that is exactly 16:9; anything else -- like Star Wars, at 2.35:1 -- will also have black bars as part of the movie.

@Dantha Fodder: Chances are good that even though Premiere displays the picture without horizontal stretching, it's still fine. As long as it's re-encoded with the 16:9 flag set, all will be well.

As suggested, the render-and-test routine is the best way to ensure everything's working properly.