Some people were saying that the LD was “cropped”, which isn’t the case. The Blu-ray release had (slight) open mattes, opening it from 1.85:1 (the original theatrical ratio) to 1.78:1 (the HDTV standard). Just thought I’d throw my opinion into the ring and say we should crop the BD to 1.85:1 to really get an “authentic” theatrical version.
The original aspect ratio is 1.66. In American theaters, this would have been cropped to 1.85.
16x9 is much closer to the original aspect ratio than 1.85 but in all honesty, there isn’t THAT much difference between 1.66, 16x9 and 1.85. You’d really need to be pixel peeking to notice.
Oh. I had no idea the negative ratio was 1.66. Still think that the 1.85 crop makes it look a bit more cinematic.