Images (3)

motion pictures

  • W.K.L dickson

    W.K.L dickson
    Thomas Edison's assistant, W.K.L. Dickson, begins devoting himself to the "motion picture project". He and his staff develop a horizontal-feed motion picture camera
  • 1900

    The actualities (scenes of daily life), the news events (both real and reconstructed), and the worn-out dramatic and comic situations that have become the standard fare of film exhibitions, begin to bore audiences. Attendance at the showing of motion pictures begins to fall. Due to the cheaper competition from exhibition services using the "standard" 35mm film format, Biograph finds it harder to convince vaudeville theatres to use its projectors that require films using its wider 70mm film gaug
  • 1910

    1910
    The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), referred to as the "Edison Trust", which only allows its own members access to cameras and projectors that use its patents, sets up its own film exchange. This distribution company, The General Film Company, attempts to counter the flood of films being produced by the "independents". The noninflammable film stock that had been released by Eastman Kodak in 1909 proves to be so unsatisfactory that commercial film producers go back to using the original,
  • 1920

    1920
    The theater chain, Loew's Incorporated, takes over Metro Pictures Corporation. Louis B. Mayer sets up Louis B. Mayer Productions Incorporated in New York. Mary Pickford marries Douglas Fairbanks. D.W. Griffith sells shares in the new “D.W. Griffith Corporation” in order to finance his new studios at Mamaroneck NY. Due to a lack of overseas markets, American motion picture production is reduced by 50%, putting 5,000 out of work. The American inventor, Lee de Forest perfects an optical soundt
  • 1930

    The “Depression” causes movie attendance to drop dramatically. Movie theaters lower ticket prices, give away door prizes, offer matinees and midnight screenings, and finally start adding a second, “B”, feature film to their programs in an effort to increase attendance. Some theaters even promote “Mickey Mouse Clubs” as a gimmick to draw children into the theaters on Saturdays to watch cartoons, serials and low–budget movies. Despite these tactics, many theaters go out of business. In New York,
  • 1940

    1940
    In the United States there are 17,500 movie theaters in operation, one for every 8,000 people. Out of a total U.S. population of 130 million, it is estimated that 55–60 million Americans go to the movies every week. As more and more families move to the edges of the urban areas and become commuters, the Motion Picture Herald reports, “a substantial part of the future of motion picture exhibition lies in the suburbs.” In response to the government's antitrust campaign against Hollywood 's movie
  • 1950

    During a reception in his honor, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the president of the Screen Director's Guild, violently denounces the current policy of “blacklisting”, as well as Cecil B. DeMille's demand that members of the Screen Directors' Guild swear an oath of loyalty. Both Gene Autry and Groucho Marx have signed to do television series. RKO has yielded to the U.S. Department of Justice and formed a separate company to manage its cinemas. The U.S. now has 11,300 traditional movie theaters, and 4,
  • 1960

    The Screen Writers Guild has called for a strike. It is demanding that its members receive a percentage of the television rights for films. The “King of Hollywood”, Clark Gable, has died at the age of 60 after suffering a heart attack. Gable had just finished filming John Huston's film “The Misfits”, and had recently learned that his wife, Kay Spreckels, was pregnant and that he would be a father for the first time. Universal–International, and Columbia Pictures, have defeated the government's
  • larry fine

    Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, effectively ending his career.
  • peter sllers

    The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, premieres in New York City. The film's soundtrack album, including Badfinger's "Come and Get It" (written and produced by Paul McCartney), is released on Apple Records.
  • 11 feb 1970

    The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, premieres in New York City. The film's soundtrack album, including Badfinger's "Come and Get It" (written and produced by Paul McCartney), is released on Apple Records.
  • march 12

    ilm debut of Ornella Muti in La moglie più bella (The Most Beautiful Wife) 3 days after her 15th birthday.
  • Mart Crowley

    The controversial film The Boys in the Band, directed by William Friedkin and based on Mart Crowley's hit off-Broadway play, opens in theaters.
  • Joan Crawford

    Joan Crawford's final film, the low-budget horror picture Trog, opens in theaters.
  • the 1980's

    The 1980s saw the continued rise of the blockbuster, an increased amount of nudity in film and the increasing emphasis in the American industry on film franchises, especially in the science fiction, horror, and action genres. Much of the reliance on these effect-driven blockbusters was due in part to the Star Wars films at the advent of this decade and the new cinematic effects it helped to pioneer. The teen comedy sub-genre saw its popularity rise during this decade.
  • 1990

    Many films were specifically filmed or edited to be displayed both on theater screens as well as on the smaller TV screens, such as showing close-up scenes during dialog, rather than just wide-angle scenes in a room.
  • media in 2000

    Thousands of full-length films were produced during the first decade of the 21st Century. Building on developments in the 1990s, computers are used to create effects that would have previously been more expensive,In addition, film genres not known for their popular appeal in North America became increasingly attractive to filmgoers: films in foreign languages like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Passion of the Christ and Letters from Iwo Jima; and documentary films like An Inconvenient Truth