I think some of you are missing the point. No one in their right mind disputes the overwhelming position digital photography currently enjoys - and for many good reasons. To me, the only controversy is how long the Nikons and Canons will be making any kind of camera, as the smart phones get better and continue to proliferate.
Film photography, in 2016-17, is not a competitor to digital. To me it is a small segment with its own benefits and disadvantages (although I confess that I have a film camera in my hand 80% of the time lately.) Unless I was an artist, I would never consider film photography as a means to earn a living, as in recording sports and news events, event photography, etc (although some are doing quite well with film as an auxiliary to the latter.) Film's "instantaneous gratification" lies not in seeing the image on a screen immediately; it is the image in your mind that you saw as you pressed the shutter, and what you will make as you go through the process of making a film photograph.
That, then, is the real difference. You can take a digital photo and be done with it right there. Just send it via wifi, and move on to the next one. Sure, not everyone does that, and you can indeed fiddle with digital for hours on end (I do!) But, with film, you absolutely have to work it. No choice. Days in the process. You have an actual, physical product in your hand that you are working on. Then you scan it, and it looks so much "worse" than your digital images. But wait! What does "worse" mean here? Certainly not as bitingly sharp, across the frame. (Little chance for crops here - hope you shot it right in the camera.) Colors are, well, different. Like there is a light haze across the image. And what is that granular stuff in those blue skies? Now. Look at it again. Is it really "worse" or is it "different?" In many ways, it is, dare I say it, "better." And, truth be told, you did enjoy the film process after all didn't you? Driving over to the shop to drop off/pick up your film. Scanning the negatives. Bringing something back from the emulsion. And, look away from your computer for a minute: you still have all of those negatives to hold on to! If you store them with patience, you can, ten years from now, find your favorite image and make it emerge again!
I am shooting with a film camera made over twenty years ago. How many out there shoot with a digital camera made twenty, or ten, or even five tears ago?