I'm trying to make something pretty using (hopefully free) software and so far it's the best I got.

https://time.graphics/line/310843

Limited to 8 pictures and 18 "events" in the free version, and export has watermarks...



Julien

Could add "first letterbox release", and "first collector's edition" which was Criterion's King Kong, wasn't it?

Citizen Kane.

Looks nice, looking forward to seeing this with more info at a later date.

I always thought it was King Kong for some reason.

The "first letterbox release" might get a little hazy since even before it became an actual "thing", I'd imagine at least a few 1.66:1 films would've been released as is since it made such a little difference.

Yeah KK was 2.

The widescreen / letterbox deal is a total cluster.
I think they say it was Manhattan but it was on CED first? But I swear I had some older anime pressings that are clearly dated on the sleeve
and widescreen about 1.7? less than 1.85

It wasn't really until 89-90 that they started to reissue stuff widescreen then full blown around 1991 as it was a sales tactic if you ask me.
Even films that weren't widescreen were matted and pumped out as such just to get another sale, then they released the box edition a month later.
So if you impatient you could end up with 3 or 4 copies of the same film and spending 150-250 and there was no ebay to dump the extras that you owned.

I think a timeline that mainly covers tech features that are genuinely a thing would be cool.. “Letterbox” is just bars on the same NTSC signal, not really a thing. Stuff like Digital Sound and CAA and all that would be nice to see in a row. Pioneer invented literally dozens of things to slap onto LD.

You're missing the release of Howard the Duck on Laserdisc, which was the start and end of the Golden Age of Cinema.

Wait, I thought that one was a harbinger of the end of civilization? But what the hay, include it.