Why the very different release formats for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

grill_gus

Alright. The first time I saw the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), it was... believe it or not... 4:3. I even obtained a copy of this. Later, I discovered that it was supposedly released in 2.35:1. Why supposedly? Read on. I've searched for and viewed different widescreen releases of the film, and they all appear to be the same. This might seem obvious, but I have something to show you. I made that from two different versions I obtained....

Originally asked by Bon Gart on Stack Exchange (movies) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

This looks like it was originally filmed in 16:9. There was most definitely a Full Frame version (4:3 is sometimes written as 1.33) and a Widescreen version (2.35:1). According to this review about half-way down the page, the Widescreen version matched the theatrical presentation. If you google "Hitchhiker's guide 16:9" you will find a few torrents and online videos that have that title. Also, this version on Amazon claims to be both 16:9 and 2.35:1, so it may contain both versions. Lastly, this review of the blue-ray states it is "2.35:1 with letterbox bars at the top and bottom of the 16:9 frame". I'd suggest checking out some of the results of the Google search mentioned above to see if...

Full answer by Johnny Bones: https://movies.stackexchange.com/a/19325 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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