Last summer, Kodak revealed that it was working on a deal with the major Hollywood studios to keep actual film stock alive, even in the days of advanced digital photography. The effort was backed by some of today’s most popular filmmakers and it looks like the deal is finally done.
Paramount, Sony, Universal, Disney, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox all reached a deal with the Eastman Kodak Company, which will also keep the company itself alive. According to The Wall Street Journal, the studios all agreed to buy up film stock over the next few years for its filmmakers to use.
Back in July 2014, Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke said that directors Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams, Judd Apatow and Quentin Tarantino all pushed to keep Kodak alive so they could make their movies on actual film.
Abrams used film for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Apatow used film for Trainwreck.
Despite a small group of directors who still like to use film, most haven’t. Indeed, since 2006, film sales dropped 96 percent.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Best Picture Oscar nominees Boyhood, The Imitation Game and The Grand Budapest Hotel were made on film, as were Interstellar, Foxcatcher and Into The Woods.
image courtesy of Dara Kushner/INFphoto.com