After Fujifilm halted their production of film late last year, Kodak was the only major player still left in the game. But the digital printing pioneer nearly shut down its own production plant as sales of film dropped 96% since 2006… That is until a group of Hollywood directors banded together to help keep the artistic medium alive!
Many released passionate statements about the value of film, and how it is an organic and tangible medium through which movies can be made.
“There’s a magic to the grain and the color quality that you get with film” said producer and director Judd Apatow, when expressing his support for Kodak. And he wasn’t the only one.
‘Goodfellas’ director Martin Scorsese rallied behind him saying, “Film, even now, offers a richer visual palette than HD… our filmmakers rallied behind Kodak because we knew that we couldn’t afford to lose them, the way we’ve lost so many other film stocks. This news is a positive step towards preserving film, the art form we love.”
Apatow and Scorsese, along with JJ Abrams, Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino urged major Hollywood studios to invest in Kodak’s film business. They hoped that if each studio purchased a set amount of the medium per year, it would be enough to keep the factory open and functioning. After he was approached by Tarantino to invest, Bob Weinstein of The Weinstein Company said, “I don’t think we could look some of our filmmakers in the eyes if we didn’t do it.”
The Weinstein Company is joined by Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros., who have all entered negotiations with Kodak to keep their film business alive. A Kodak spokesman told The Hollywood Reporter that the company is, “very hopeful that an agreement will be put into place.”