Moviemaking

Historic Film Events

  • The First Motion Pictures

    To settle a bet and using a series of stills, Eadweard Muybridge, a British photographer, proves that all four of a horse's feet leave the ground at a time. These early pictures are considered to be the origins od the moving picture and Muybridge is credited as the "Father of the Motion Picture."
  • The First Projector

    The First Projector

    French brothers, Louis and August Lumiere patented the first camera/projector allowing films to be viewed by an audience, much to Thomas Edison's dismay.
  • The Great Train Robbery

    The Great Train Robbery

    Edwin Porter directs The Great Train Robbery. It had 14 scenes and was 12 minutes. It was considered quite the film feat at that time.
  • The MPPC

    The MPPC

    The MPPC, or The Motion Pictures Patents Compan, is formed by nine leading film producers, including Thomas Edison. It agreed not to sell or lease equipment to distributors who;ve purchased films from any other company.
  • Mickey Mouse is Born

    Mickey Mouse is Born

    Mickey Mouse makes his first film debut in Steamboat Willie. Streamboat Willie was one of the first cartoons to have sound along with Walt Disney's opther cartoon, Galloping Gaucho.
  • First Drive-In Movie Theater

    First Drive-In Movie Theater

    The first-ever drive-in movie theater, opened in Camden, New Jersey. At first, they were a weekend destination for American families. Now, less than 500 drive-in theaters are still in the U.S.
  • Cinderella

    Cinderella

    Disney's Cinderella was realeased. It had a budget of about $2,900,000 and had a gross income of about $34 million.
  • Pyscho

    Pyscho

    Alfred Hitchcock's horror/thriller Psycho hits theaters. It had an estimated budget of $806,947 and had a gross income of $32 million. There have been other variations released since the original film, includng a tv series.
  • Jaws

    Jaws

    Steven Spielberg's Jaws grosses $260 million on a budget of $8 million. A thriller about a great white shark, Jaws was voted #3 Total Film's 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time in 2005.
  • Die Hard

    Die Hard

    The first of many, Die Hard, directed by Jihn McTiernan hit theaters.It had a budget of $28 million and grossed about $81 million.
  • Dreamworks

    Dreamworks

    The film studio Dreamworks is formed by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. Their first full-length animated feature was Antz.
  • The Blair Witch Project

    The Blair Witch Project

    With a budget of $30,000, The Blair Witch Project grosses $125 million, making it the most profitable film in Hollywood history.