Projection quality in most cinemas today is, alas, quite bad. If you think seeing a movie on a “big screen” is “the best cinematic experience”… well, sorry to disappoint you.
On average, what you see in theaters worldwide, including in supposedly top-notch multiplexes in world capitals, remains very, very far from what we, the film creators, see in our calibrated color grading / sound mixing studios, both image and sound wise.
You pay a premium to see a dim image on an often curved surface of reflective material with terribly low sound levels and cringe-worthy distortions (especially the mids). You also get to sit next to a sweating, farting neighbor, if that’s your kind of “communal pleasure”.
And… let me be preemptive here: Netflix is not (yet) the best in terms of stream quality either. But nothing precludes them to move up to ProRes 444 grade stuff once everyone’s on fibre.
Realistically, the only way — today — to show you the best image and sound remains a 2K or 4K BluRay and an emittance-based, calibrated home theater (costs a ton of money, I know).
For more, read about ‘Solo’ theater projection problems leave fans in the dark and enrage industry veterans.
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