Timeline

MOTION PICTURES TIMELINE

1883 Invention of flexible celluloid film

1891 Edison applies for patent for Kinetoscope peep hole film viewer.

1896 Vitascope projector unveiled-- first public showing of a motion picture to a large, paying audience

1903 Edwin S. Porter makes The Great Train Robbery. Film demonstrates new editing and camera innovations

1905 Birth of early movie houses called nickelodeons

1908 Start of Motion Pictures Patents Company (MPPC)

1915 Charlie Chaplin stars in The Tramp

1919 Independent film producers evade the restrictions of the MPPC by moving to Hollywood

http://hollywood.com/

1921 Rudolph Valentino stars in The Sheik

1927 The Jazz Singer, the first "talkie" is released

1928 Walt Disney releases Steamboat Willie, an animated cartoon starring a character that would become Mickey Mouse

1933-1948 The Studio Years. Big Hollywood studios come to dominate the industry

1939 Classic films Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind are released

1941 Orson Welles produces and stars in Citizen Kane, considered by many to be the best American film ever made

1948 Court decision ends control of industry by big studios. Rise of independent filmmakers

1949 Film attendance drops; industry blames TV

1952 In an attempt to win back audiences, Hollywood introduces 3-D films and wide-screen Cinerama.

1956 Hollywood sees TV as ally. Starts to sell old film to television

1957-1965 Film attendance continues to decline. Hollywood studios start making TV series.

1967 Bonny and Clyde and The Graduate released. Films' anti-heroes appeal to a younger audience

1968 Motion Picture Association of America introduced G-PG-R-X film rating system

http://www.cara.org/guide.htm

1972 The Godfather is released and starts a trend toward Mafia movies that will continue through two sequels and inspires TV's "The Sopranos."

1973 Star Wars, directed by George Lucas, ushers in era of the super-blockbuster

http://www.starwars.com/

1975 Steven Spielberg directs Jaws, the first of his many successful movies

1980 Hollywood studios main suppliers of TV series

1988 Broadcast TV, cable TV and videocassette revenue eclipse theatrical box office as sources of film revenue

http://www.blockbuster.com/

1990-1993 Disney and Universal open studios in Florida

1995 Number of movie screens continues to increase

1997 Titanic becomes biggest money-earning movie of all time

1999 Stars Wars: The Phantom Menace released in digital format