[Proposal] Predator 2 Widescreen 2.05:1 version

[Stamper]

Anyone knows if there is somewhere a print of Predator 2 for sale to check the format? Cos I think the movie was originaly 2.35:1 but always been 1.85:1 cropped on video. I'm certain I saw it on the screen in 2.05:1 or 2.35:1. All the trailers are about 2.35:1.

Back in 1990 some films like The Abyss were released on LD opened up due to perception that people wouldn't buy them on LD so tiny the image was in 2.35. I think this is what happened to Predator 2, but the format of the LD stuck after this and unlike The Abyss was never corrected.

Note that on the NTSC DVD as well as the LD you can see many times the microphones recording the actors on top of the image. The DVD is cropped a bit on the sides and extended on bottom when compared to the trailers and obviously opened a bit too much on top. It looks framed totally wrong.

I think the movie was 2.35:1 because the trailers all use clips from the first film, all reframed in 2.35:1 (including one shot not in the first film!).

Why would they reframe the first film footage to conform with the new one, if it wasn't 2.35:1? Since the first film was 1.85:1 and the home-video versions of Predator 2 are 1.85:1, then it would be logic that the trailers are 1.85:1. Except they are all in 2.35:1!

I have the NTSC SE DVD and it has the same framing as the BD, whereas the UK SE DVD looks to have all the horizontal info. I think it could be cool to reframe the UK DVD to the actual widescreen as shown originaly in theaters, using the trailers as reference to find the correct framing.

The Blu-ray is a piece of shit that reproduces the NTSC crap framing and is DNRed to death. Avoid.

And get ready for this, The widescreen VHS released in the UK in April 1998 had the very unusual aspect ratio of 2.05:1. This was the only release of the film to be framed in this ratio. If anyone can cap that VHS please post screencaps!

[MrBrown]

at least the Film cells to be seen on eBay seem more to be 1.85:1:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Predator-2-12-pac...SwLVZVvZdI

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Predator-2-35mm-F...Sw8qxVIUHv

[spoRv]

I'm curious to see that 2.35:1 VHS...

I did a quick'n'dirt test, using the open matte Spanish DVD - which has the same frame size of the UK DVD, and more image than other DVDs, a lot more than BD - upscaled to 1920x1080 and cropped top 60px and bottom 200px to get roughly a 2.35:1 frame.

It works somehow - heads are not cropped (too much), but I still feel it too "compressed"...

As I was thinking to release a composite version, using the HDTV (and eventually DVD) for the "borders" and BD for the "center" - if only I could match them flawlessly - it would be still possible to add black bars via subtitle hack; also possible to add more than one choice, like top 60px bottom 200px, or top 80px bottom 180px etc.

[Stamper]

Have you matched to the trailers crops?

[spoRv]

Nope, as the only trailer found on my DVD is 4:3!

[Jetrell Fo]

My Predator 2 DVD is 1:85:1, Widescreen. It's the 2002 U.S. release.

[SilverWook]

There appears to be a PAL LD and a Japanese LD with the wider ratio, if the LDDB listings are correct.
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/18941/EE-1092/Predator-2
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/25557/PILF...Predator-2

[MrBrown]

Somewhere at the "trivias" regarding Predator 2 on imdb.com there is the "info" that the UK Widescreen Series VHS had the odd format of 2.05:1 while the movie was intended as 1.85:1.
(roughly quoted)
We all know how to treat "informations" like that from an open database... But it may be a hint.

Ofdb.de lists said video as 2.05:1 aspect ratio.

So at least that seems to be the case that said release has this strange aspect ratio.
But only proof for the 1.85:1 ratio so far: some cell frames at eBay, that also could be trailer frames...

[CSchmidlapp]

As the original post was deleted in the 'Predator color grading' thread I thought id repost here!

Ive seen 'scope' trailers for films released in 1:85:1.
They are similar to the Predator 2 ones, cropped with a little more information on the sides.
When shooting 35mm the final framing is often cropped out of the full frame O neg captured. In the case of some scope conversions it seems they return this redundant information cropped from the sides.
It certainly looks better in this case though, but it's not evidence of a 2:35:1 final release.

I don't remember a VHS widescreen release of the film in the U.K and the UK DVD does not have the picture information to replicate the Scope version in the trailer. The 35mm cells posted by Mr Brown also show a flat print (flat version of the trailer).

Im thinking it was a 1:85:1 release AR.

EDIT: Changed 'When shooting S35' to 'When shooting 35mm' as it was a mistake. Thanks to Zoidberg for pointing it out.

[SilverWook]

There are Japanese and PAL Laserdiscs on Ebay right now. Are they worth pursuing?