Movie Designations

The Moviegoer's Guide - click here for the newest version of the guide!

Special Engagement

Newly released movies sometimes have this designation. It indicates that the movie distributor wishes to reduce the amount of discount ticket sales.
Contractual obligations between the movie distributor and movie theater restrict the use of most box office discounts during the special engagement period. Usually a movie will only carry this designation for 10 days after its release.

Exclusive

Certain movies only play in one theater chain within a given area for a negotiated period of time. This usually happens when there are a limited number of prints being distributed.
Foreign films almost always have this designation.

70mm

70 millimeter film suffers from extremely limited distribution due to production costs. Special projection equipment, low price to performance benefits, and the advent of 35mm digital sound further reduce its popularity with most movie theaters. For the best image and sound quality look no further. 70mm film uses a six channel magnetic sound track which is superior to all digital sound formats. Due to its physical dimensions, a 70mm print also has approximately twice the initial image size to project onto a screen. With the continued enhancement of 35mm technology, 70mm film will continue to slide into extinction.

Flat

One of the two primary 35 millimeter formats, flat films use an aspect ratio of 1.85 to 1. This means that the picture is 1.85 times as wide as it is tall. Each individual frame appears exactly as it would on the movie screen. To produce an image, light gets projected through the film and is enlarged by a lens. An aperture plate, just inches away, blocks light along the image edges. Some theaters have poorly sized aperture plates which allow the picture to bleed on the edges. You may even see an optical soundtrack on the right side of the screen. Its very distracting.

Scope

The second 35 millimeter format uses an aspect ratio of 2.35 to 1. Scope frames have the same physical dimensions as flat. This allows one projector to show both prints.
The image gets stretched vertically and has a thinner black bar between frames. A different lens and aperture plate is used to display the picture.

For reference,

Aspect Ratios
Television	1.33:1
High Definition TV	1.78:1
70mm Film	2.05:1
European Films	1.66:1

MPAA ratings:

Motion Picture Association of America

G [All ages admitted]
PG [Some material may not be suitable for children]
PG-13 [Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13]
R [Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian]
NC-17 [No one 17 and under admitted]

<< [previous] | [menu] | [next] >>

[contents] [auditoriums] [time savers] [sneak previews] [thx] [digital sound] [analog sound] [designations] [pricing structure] [missing the point] [highlights] [links] [sign guestbook] [view guestbook]

http://www.movieguides.com
The Moviegoer's Guide to Movie Theatres