Alright. Here's the run-down:
- There are NO DIFFERENCES in the edit of the IMAX, 35mm, DVD, or Blu-Ray cuts of the film. The differences are entirely in the aspect ratio.
- The only official preservation of the taller framing of all the IMAX shots is the Blu-Ray, which crops the top third or so of the shot to 1.78:1 to fill a 16:9 television.
- The DVD contains the six main IMAX sequences in 1.44:1, pillarboxed inside a 1.78:1 frame, but it's missing many individual shots (like when the seaplane lands next to the sailboat, for instance) that were filmed in IMAX.
- The HBO fullscreen broadcast - and, presumably, the fullscreen DVD - contains all the IMAX shots with the sides cropped off to fill a 1.33:1 frame. Less of the image is cropped in this case than on the Blu-Ray.
- The IMAX shots were framed in such a way that the top third or so of the frame is basically empty, because in a true IMAX theater, you most likely wouldn't be able to see that part of the frame anyway. So, one could argue that the Blu-Ray's 1.78:1 preserves the intended framing more than the IMAX-theatrical 1.44:1, or the fullscreen DVD's 1.33:1.