Forget about the Guardians of the Galaxy — a team of superstar directors, including Quentin Tarantino, J.J. Abrams, Judd Apatow and Christopher Nolan, has joined forces to prevent motion picture film from becoming extinct.
Thanks to their behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts, the major Hollywood studios are close to finalizing a deal that will allow Eastman Kodak Co. to continue making movie film, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“It would be a tragedy if suddenly directors didn’t have the opportunity to shoot on film,’’ Apatow told the Journal from the New York set of a movie that he’s shooting on film. “There’s a magic to the grain and the color that you get with film.’’
Kodak — the last manufacturer of movie film in the world — has seen sales plummet 96 percent since 2007 as filmmakers switch to digital video formats that are far less expensive to shoot and distribute. Kodak has been considering closing its film-manufacturing plant in Rochester, NY because of mounting losses.
Under the deal, studios such as Paramount, Disney and Warner Bros. would make a long-term commitment to purchase sufficient quantities of movie film to enable Kodak to stay in that business. 
Besides wanting to keep high-profile filmmakers who are passionate about film happy, studios still use 35 mm film as an archival medium — even for movies shot on video. Not only is film projected to last far longer than video — up to 100 years — movies stored in digital video have to be inspected more often for corrupted files and periodically transferred to the newer formats, all of which makes it more expensive for this use.
“In an industry where we very rarely have unanimity, everyone has rallied around keeping film as an option for the foreseeable future,’’ Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara told the Wall Street Journal.
“It’s a financial commitment, no doubt-about it,’’ said Bob Weinstein, co-chair of the Weinstein Co., who was lobbied by Tarantino. “But I don’t think we could look some of our filmmakers in the eyes if we didn’t do it.’’