One line in Eastman Kodak's second-quarter release, issued 4 August, has been doing a lot of work since: Advanced Materials & Chemicals revenue of $105 million against $75 million a year earlier, up 40 percent. By the middle of this week that had become "Kodak's film business grew 40 percent" across enthusiast coverage.

It is worth being exact about what that segment holds.

What the number contains

Advanced Materials & Chemicals is where Kodak books motion picture film, still film, pharmaceutical coating and battery-materials work. Kodak reports no revenue line for still film, and the second-quarter release does not use the phrase at all. The one place the quarter's film growth was described in any detail was the earnings call, and there it was motion picture: two features in release shot on Kodak stock, and, in coverage the following week, a claimed 36 percent rise in motion picture film revenue over two years attributed to Vanessa Bendetti, Kodak's VP and head of motion picture and entertainment.

Whether still-film volume grew this quarter is not a question the filing answers. It may well have. Kodak spent the last year taking distribution of its stills back from Kodak Alaris — Gold and UltraMax in November, Ektar and Tri-X in January, Ektachrome in February, large-format sheets and bulk rolls in May — and a company does not do that to manage a decline. But that is inference, and this week it has been circulating as a reported figure.

The number that reaches the shelf

The same documents carry a second fact, and it is being read by almost nobody.

Kodak attributed the quarter's improvement to "improved pricing and higher volume, partially offset by higher silver and aluminum prices." On the call, management put a size to it: inventory rose $37 million in the first half, with silver, in their words, more than double year-end levels. [Kodak's own characterisation. Silver spot figures found in general reporting were inconsistent and are not used here; source a market price before publication if one is wanted.]

Silver is not an abstraction in a black-and-white emulsion. It is the light-sensitive material itself, and it is a substantial input even in color. Kodak Alaris named it in February when it raised distributed stocks by $1 to $3 a roll. Kodak has now named it again, to investors, as a live cost.

So: a strong quarter, a company four quarters into a genuine recovery, and film visible inside it — mostly as motion picture. Against that, the input that sets what a roll costs has doubled and Kodak has said so in writing. Harman cut its color prices this week. That is the more surprising thing, and the harder one to hold.

Source: Kodak Q2 2026 financial results

GP