'Guardians of the Galaxy II' to be shot with Red's 8K Weapon

Red and director James Gunn revealed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be the first movie shot on the company's Weapon 8K digital cinema camera. The original film, which grossed nearly $800 million worldwide, was captured on Arri's Alexa XT camera. While directors like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan still demand celluloid film, digital cameras haven't exactly been sitting still. Red's 8K Weapon arguably rivals the resolution of 70mm film, even though the Vista Vision-size sensor is smaller. Arri, meanwhile, recently released the Alexa 65, a 6K cinema camera with a huge 65mm sensor.

It certainly makes sense to shoot an FX extravaganza like Guardians in digital. If footage is captured at 8K, quality can be maintained at a high level through effects, post-production and final color correction. When it's finally projected at 4K digital, it should be nearly as sharp as when it was shot. Film, on the other hand, has to be transferred to a digital format via a telecine machine before it can be used in a digital post process. It's also not feasible to shoot 3D on film, though there's no word on whether the Guardians sequel will be 3D or not. Either way, it's set to arrive in theaters sometime in 2017.