What is different in the quality of movies seen in the big screen today?

Hmm. Don’t know what the grainy texture is that you are referring to. Perhaps it came from imperfections in the copy of the film? This can happen as a film is played over and over and bits of dust get on it. Also, there would be splices because often times film would jam and burn up, and then it would have to be spliced together and you’d get a kind of hitch where the film was missing.

Similarly, in days when digital film was at a lower resolution, I suppose it could have seemed blurry or grainy.

But now the resolution is high enough that is seems more perfect compared to what it was. I’m sure that the resolution will get even higher as time goes on, and things will seem more and more clear.

So that’s my answer, I guess: higher resolution.

This wiki article tries to explain film grain. Basically there particles that make up the picture (like pixels but made of silver). When the film is blown up to display on a big screen these particles are more noticeable. Older film tends to have a more noticeable grain, colour film has more grain than black and white.

You can see the poor picture quality in older films on a big screen HD television.

It’s a digital projection, not a film projection.
There is give and take on the use of digital projections. I am very impressed by it.

I find digital sickening and have only watched one movie in a theater that was digital. I guess I am now the guy that says vinyl was better then a CD.

I have a intimate knowledge of film projectors.

^^ Yeah, i’d watch your back (go to 8:00 mins)

@johnpowell Do you feel the same way as I do? I find it too polished. There is ample depth but it’s clearly closer to video quality, imo.

My main issue with digital is that multiplexes think they can get rid of projectionists and just employ a spotty kid to press play on a computer. You end up watching movies without sound, 2d movies in a cinema set up for 3d movies or paranormal activity 4 when you wanted to watch a kids movie etc etc etc…

What hasn’t been mentioned yet is the higher frame rates used by some filmmakers.

The effect has been described as making movies look like soap operas, which have long been shot on video, not film.

Setting Standards for High Frame Rate Digital Cinema