IF an HD movie is shown in 4 x 3 pillar box , I won't watch it. It is supposed to be in 16 x 9 Full screen or at least 16 x9 letterbox. I can zoom it to fill if it is letterbox without too much degrading of the picture. But why even bother to show it in HD if it is in 4x3 at all? You know it wasn't shot that way. All movies are in 16 x 9 unless they were tv films.
Nope. TV movies are often shot at 16:9. Theatrical movies shot nowadays are shot at 1.85:1 (close, but with 1:1 pixel matching there is still a slight black bar at the top and bottom), 2.35:1, or 2.4:1 (2.39:1). These are then foramatted to fit within the 16:9 screen by either adding horizontal mattes to retain the original aspect ratio or cropping to fill the screen. Overscan of most tv's takes care of 1.85:1 to make it appear like it fills the screen.
S~