But then they would have had to film everything on Imax film (more $$$$) and in most movie theaters that have a constant screen height, that would have presented an actually smaller picture since there would have been "black bars" on the sides of the image (covered by curtains) instead of the black bars seen at the top and bottom of your 16x9 screen.

With the variance between HDTV broadcasts in a 16x9 format (1.78:1 ratio) and many movies being near 2.4:1 ratio, there is no way around the black bars. Bars on the top and bottom of the screen for those of us with 16x9 screens/TVs when watching movies, and bars on the right and left of the screen for those people with 2.4:1 (or similar) screens when watching HDTV broadcasts.

Farewell - June 4, 2020