What's up with this "Theatrical Wide screen"?

The market for the 2.35:1 Movie Aspect Widescreen's is really the dedicated home theater. No TV tuner just movies. The effect of bars on the top and bottom of a screen can be distracting. Thes are usually not black but a function of grey in most cases. That side these monitors can display these movies without distortion and as close to native format as you can get.

16:9 was essentially a compromise on the part of the ATSC, and remember from history when one compromises no one is happy. In the transition stages of DTV 4:3 programing would look odd centered in a 2:35:1 TV. That was the desire of most engineers for home use. They felt that 2:35:1 is much closer to the human eye and a good overall setup since not much would require change. Most could use off the shelf parts and systems.However the Motion picture industry was in a full blown panic. The feared that if people had high quality screens at home they would stop going to the overpriced movies (their words not mine). They wanted to keep the 4:3 standard (which is why a lot of first gen HDTV's were 4:3 plus other factors). The compromise was to split the difference to the closest existing format. The birth of 16:9 ATSC TV was born. So the engineers got something closer to the human eye and Tom Cruse can still keep Katie hostage. I am a fan of not going to a movie where any actor makes more than 1 mil. That keeps the theater prices where they should be.

Actually theatrical wide screen (like on cinemas) ratio is still higher than 16:9

That's why some movies still has black edge, even on widescreen LCD

16:9 = 1.78:1 close to 1.85:1

Most of theatrical movies is 2.35:1, some people call it ultra widescreen

And actually there are LCD TV with ultra widescreen format, but not common and can be difficult to be found today

Some of the movies now has 16:9 format, even on cinemas. Take a look at Madagascar 2, the DVD should be fit perfectly on your LCD, without any black areas

Why ultra widescreen movies still produced while we have 16:9 TV now?

Dont know the exact reason but maybe because ultra widescreen is still more comfortable and less eye strain to be watched (especially on cinema)

Some DVD players have resize function though. U can insist 2.35:1 format into 16:9 format

And the picture would be fit perfectly to your screen

Yet, the picture will be looks a bit distorted vertically