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Invention of the Kinetoscope
Thomas Edison invented the Kinetoscope int 1889. It was a single person film viewing device placed in parlors across the country. It charged a fee to view a short reel of film, however at the time it was groundbreaking and amazed viewers. -
Lumiere Brothers began screening films
The Lumiere brothers created their own film camera and projector in the 1890s. They held private screenings where people could pay to watch one of their "cinematographes" or short silent films. These films blew peoples minds and created a demand for more films in the public. -
Nickelodeons
Nickelodeons were small movie theaters in the 1900s that charged a nickel to watch a short film and some skits, hence the name. They radically altered the distribution of films allowing for mass screenings of films to everyday people. They were a huge hit with lower and middle class Americans in cities and led to the rapid expansion of the film industry -
Origins of Hollywood and the first Movie Stars
As Thomas Edisons film monopoly in New York made competition by rival studios impossible, they relocated in droves to the opposite end of the country, California. This marked the beginning of the Hollywood film industry we know today. The Hollywood film makers did what Edison didn't, allowing actors to receive notoriety from their films and creating the first "movie stars". -
Emergence of Sound in Film
1927 marked the emergence of sound films or "talkies" as they were more commonly known with the release of "The Jazz Singer". This marked a major turning point in the film industry of the silent films of the past. Many thought that audiences would dislike the use of sound in films as it would take away from the actors over-exaggerated expressions, but clearly they were wrong as "talkies" took off. -
Technicolor in the Wizard of Oz
While not the first film to use Technicolor technology, The Wizard of Oz was one of the first widely acclaimed and successful films to be released in color and amazed audience. It led to the emergence of a new era of films in the 1940s and 50s using technicolor to bring color to movies. This was the first major development in film technology since the emergence of "Talkies" in the 1920s and early 1930s. -
Rise of Spaghetti Westerns
Departing from the clean, good guy westerns of Hollywood, Spaghetti westerns employed a darker, more gritty and convoluted storyline. They became popular with Sergio Leon's release of the Dollars Trilogy. These films are listed amongst the best in the Western genre and definitely at the top of the Spaghetti Western sub-genre. The trilogy put Spaghetti westerns and actors like Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef on the map. -
Emergence of Blockbuster films
With the release of Jaws in 1975, and then 1977, Hollywood experienced its first "blockbuster" films. This marked the beginning of the "blockbuster era" in Hollywood, with huge majorly popular and profitable releases. It led other studies to pursue their own "blockbusters" sinking millions into film production in hopes of significant returns. -
Rise of Science Fiction
The 1980s film industry was dominated by science fiction films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980). These showed new shifts in film genres departing from older genres such as Westerns from the previous decades. It marked a turning point in Hollywood that has continued to present day. -
CGI Becomes Mainstream
Computer Generated Images, or CGI, becomes mainstream with the release of Jurassic Park in 1993. It is used in almost all current movies for special effects and digital editing such as removing objects and people from shots. It allows film studios to add effects and characters into movies that would be very difficult or impossible to create without CGI. -
Explosion of computer animated films
The 2000s saw the significant rise of digitally animated films such as Shrek and Madagascar. While they were also digitally animated films that found success in the late 1990s, the 2000s marked the major departure of the hand drawn cell animated films of the past in favor of the easier to produce digital animated films we see flooding the film industry today. -
Avengers Endgame
Avenger's Endgame edges out James Cameron's 'Avatar' as the highest grossing film ever. This is significant as it shows the extent to which Disney has influence and power in the film industry. It also shows the change in film demographics to huge blockbuster superhero films.
