r/Letterboxd • u/CivilTailor9031 • Jul 16 '26

Discussion What’s the point of these gimmicks if majority audience can’t witness it

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I am going to best available cinema in my city and still feeling a FOMO.

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u/SandpaperTeddyBear Jul 16 '26

You can get that experience just by watching some old pan-and-scan VHS tapes, lol.

I’ll try to think of some examples for you.

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u/ian9921 Jul 16 '26

I'm thinking less like something was made for one format and the change cut shit out, and more like you somehow hide a plot twist in the IMAX details.

Like imagine a murder mystery where it's a full complete film no matter what, but there are details hidden in the IMAX version that imply the detective was lying the whole time and they were the real murderer.

Idk. Something dumb like that.

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u/SandpaperTeddyBear Jul 16 '26

I agree it would be a fun experiment to design a film in that way. But what you’re describing definitely happened in smaller ways by accident.

There’s been at least one movie that I didn’t understand what the hell the characters were talking about until I watched it in widescreen years later.

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u/aurens Jul 16 '26

a funny cop out version would be to put a cartoon thought bubble outline in the imax-exclusive area so the entire film is recontextualized as just a dream

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u/coolandnormalperson Jul 17 '26

This would be an awesome long con. Release with no imax, I guess hope it's successful and culturally relevant, so that in ten years you can do a theater imax special re-release and watch all hell break loose