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| CHAPTER 7 // TIMELINE | |
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U.S. minister Hannibal Goodwin develops celluloid, which enables motion pictures to be created. |
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Thomas Edison’s team opens the first such parlor of coin-operated machines. |
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Edison’s vitascope invention popularizes large-screen film projection in the United States. |
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Storefront movie theaters with a five-cent admission price begin to flourish in the United States. |
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The first of a national trend of opulent movie palaces opens in New York. |
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Movie studios begin to gain control of production, distribution, and exhibition of movies. |
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The Big Five studios and the Little Three form a powerful oligopoly. |
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The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool, both starring Al Jolson, bring sound to the screen. |
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The House Un-American Activities Committee investigates ten un-willing witnesses on grounds of allegedly having communist sympathies. |
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The Supreme Court forces studios to divest themselves of their theaters to end vertical integration. |
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The Motion Picture Association of America initiates the first ratings system for age appropriateness. |
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VHS-format videocassette recorders (VCRs) hit the consumer market, creating the movie rental and purchase industry. |
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Independent films become an important source for identifying new talent. |
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A wave of giant movie complexes are built. |
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The new format is quickly adopted as superior to the VHS cassette. |
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The digital production and distribution format gains strength in Hollywood and with independents. |
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Select Hollywood films are digitally remastered and exhibited in the larger IMAX format. |
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Hollywood settles on the Blu-ray format to succeed the DVD, but home exhibition also moves toward Internet streaming. |
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Over two dozen movies are released in digital 3-D, including several converted classics. |