Could 2021 be the beginning of the 8K television revolution? That’s what global auditing firm Deloitte (via TechRadar) seems to think, as it has shared a report predicting that the sales of 8K UHD displays will reach $5 billion next year, with millions of additional revenue coming in via equipment, production, and related services.
“These revenues will come predominantly from sales of 8K TV sets to consumers (an anticipated 1 million units with an average selling price [ASP] of US$3,300), with the standard becoming increasingly popular for the largest television set sizes,” analysts wrote.
“In addition, sales of equipment (such as cameras, monitors, storage, and computers) related to the creation and production of 8K content should generate hundreds of millions of dollars globally for the year.”
Deloitte also noted that there a few major movies and TV series that have already been shot in 8K. These include Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy sequel; director David Fincher’s biopic of Citizen Kane’s cowriter, Mank; and the second season of Amazon Prime anthology series Homecoming.
What we’re wondering is how the transition to 8K will affect CGI-laden films that were released over the past two to three decades, as many were mastered in 2K. Movie studios have gotten away with upscaling these to 4K for Ultra HD Blu-ray releases, but what are they going to look like when they’re upscaled even further to 7680 × 4320?