Read on Twitter
There's a lot that strange about Snyder's JUSTICE LEAGUE remake, but I've become obsessed over the wild decision to release the film in the proprietary IMAX aspect ratio of 1.43:1.
It's a weird flex, but it's an interesting one! I think it'll turn off a lot of casual viewers, but if that's how that movie was shot, it's neat to see it preserved that way! Only, that wasn't how it was shot.
I checked and exactly 0 minutes of JUSTICE LEAGUE were shot with IMAX cameras (they were all being used on DUNKIRK). I thought it was odd that the version released in 2017 was presented in 1.85:1 (rather than the more traditionally "cinematic" 2.35:1), but now it makes sense.
Snyder shot the movie at 1.85, with considerations for an IMAX version cropped to 1.43. Yes, *cropped!* There's no way regular theaters would've shown such an odd ratio, so theoretically, the special, expensive IMAX version would've shown *less* picture than the standard release!
That approach is weird, but not exactly without precedent. Most films released in 2.35:1 are not shot with anamorphic lenses, but are instead matted to achieve that "bigger" look. The difference, though, is you're usually not paying twice the price over an open matte version.
This feels like Snyder in microcosm: copying an aesthetic he thinks is "cool" absent the substance that justifies its reason for being.
