Fujifilm Walking Out of Cinema Film Business

Kodak went bankrupt because it was too slow in realizing where the industry was headed, and it was a bit late in selling the film, kiosk and commercial scanner divisions. Fujifilm doesn't plan to suffer the same hardship.

The latest press release from Fujifilm has revealed that the company is quitting while it's ahead. In addition to stopping chemical production in Japan, it will stop making cinema film at all its centers, in all regions.

That includes Color Positive Film, Color Negative Film, B&W Positive/Negative Film, Intermediate Film, Sound Recording Film and High Contrast Panchromatic Films.

This large part of the Fujifilm cinema business will be closed by the time March 2013 rolls around.

Afterwards, only stills film and films suitable for long-term archiving will continue being made, along with films for high-performance lens (used in shooting motion pictures). It isn't clear how long that will last though.

The reason for all this is simple: high-end and even regular cameras have largely stopped using film altogether, storing images and video on memory cards instead. Because of them, video projectors have begun using memory cards as well.

Thus, even if cinemas and film studios are using film rolls at this point in time, the situation may very well change in short order.

The establishment of 3D motion pictures as a full-fledged movie category had a significant effect on this outcome, as they favor digital projection and editing. However, it is probable that the move from film to digital products would have happened even in absence of it.

From this point on, we suspect that Fujifilm will do things similarly to Panasonic, who introduced a 3D Projector that was developed in collaboration with Hollywood filmmakers. The range of mirrorless or other digital cameras, wireless or otherwise, will have to hold the fort until then, even amidst patent wars.