It seems that two different versions of Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” are out there on home platforms, with one proving a bit tricky to watch.
When it went to cinemas, two versions of the film were available – one with the standard widescreen scope aspect ratio of 2.39:1 throughout for regular cinemas, the other with a 1.90:1 flat aspect ratio for only a small number of IMAX and other PLF screens. That ‘flat’ one essentially offers 26% more image at the top and bottom.
On Tuesday, the film was released on digital – the $2.5 billion grossing title hitting various platforms like Apple and Amazon with only the scope version available. The 4K UHD and other format disc releases in December are expected to be the same.
There is, however, one exception – Sony Pictures Core. The entertainment app is only available on certain Sony devices like PlayStation, Xperia, and Bravia. That app has received the full 1.90:1 flat version (being popularly dubbed the ‘IMAX Version’).
Now, a copy of that version has quickly been spread across social networks and torrenting websites, one copy clocking in at a massive 80Gb in size. Very quickly, screen caps from that version have spread online – though many of those have just been Tom Holland’s shirtless scenes in the film.
This has raised the question of whether that 1.90:1 version will be made available on more regular platforms, but so far there has been no indication from Sony of any plans to do that. Sony has released IMAX enhanced versions of the films on the Disney+ service, but the film isn’t expected to arrive on that SVOD service for many months as Netflix has the film’s Pay-1 window for SVOD.
Source: CBM
