The Fox Grandeur process was first and foremost of a small number of widescreen processes which were developed by the major Hollywood studios alongside sound in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Although the format proved to be successful, due to the Great Depression that began with the fall of Wall Street in October of 1929, the Grandeur format then proved financially unviable for an industry still struggling to invest in the switch to talking pictures. Other theatres were resistant to making the large investment necessary, and the onset of the Great Depression put paid to the system's prospects. Ultimately, the widescreen aspect ratio did become established by the early-1960s. Fox used the Grandeur name again on a re-release of The King and I; this re-release was a Todd AO compatible 70mm reduction of the original CinemaScope 55 negative, advertised as being in “Grandeur 70”.
