tachikoma

zxthehedgehog said:
And I have to agree that, if nothing else, the Blu-ray version looks off. There’s too much space on the top and bottom of the picture in general, and it looks more like an open matte version than something that the cinematographer would intentionally shoot for such an AR.

This. The 16/9 works better in 3D, specially in the aerial scenes, but the film was clearly framed in cinemascope, no doubt about it. Even the virtual cameras used in the shooting had the cinemascope ratio.

Hi, I’m a big fan of James Cameron and find it quite shocking that there’s no copy available of the THEATRICAL CUT of AVATAR as it was shown in 2D cinemas in its original CINEMASCOPE 2.39 aspect ratio. Specially given that Cameron himself has said multiple times that it is how it was originally framed and his preferred aspect ratio for 2D screening (and frankly, much superior and cinematic).

I tried to make it myself, adjusting the framing shot by shot taking a cam version as a reference, but my computer just can’t deal with HD video files.

Of course in some tv’s you can just mask the image, but for an optimal experience some shots must be slightly reframed.

Given that 10 years have passed since the movie opened and there are still no plans for a cinemascope release, it’s up to us to preserve AVATAR as it was originally intended.

I was there too, it was indeed very special. Hope the footage can be recovered.

Another much needed project would be the AVATAR THEATRICAL CUT with the original 2:35 aspect ratio. Frankly, I’m shocked that it can’t be found anywhere.