With approximately 500,000 currently available films to watch, it can be hard to imagine a time when they weren't even considered possible. The early 19th century brought the world the first photo ever taken, and a groundbreaking motion picture was created just a couple of decades later. Made of only 52 frames, the Roundhay Garden Scene is believed to be the earliest surviving film, dating back to 1888. For comparison, most modern movies have, on average, more than 130,000 frames. However, it wasn't commercially screened - that would have to wait for another 7 years until the creation of Cinematographe, a camera-projector. Two French brothers opened their doors to the public in a cafe in Paris, for the first-ever screening of 10 short films showing the everyday life of an average Frenchman. There was an entrance fee similar to today's cinemas. Simultaneously in Great Britain, Thomas Edison worked on Kinetoscope and started building the first ever film production studio which was tasked with creating film strips. The 1910s and 1920s gave rise to some of the best movies. Early cinema was mainly filled with westerns and musicals, as they attracted the most attention and were fairly cheap to make. The natural monopoly of the industry prevented any creativity until commercial television started in the 1950s and the sudden loss of profit forced them to change. Once the monopoly was broken, Hollywood started to conform to their teenage market by portraying juvenile, rebellious delinquents. Multiple films that became instant classics were created, most of them belonging to the drama/romance genre. Attempts to introduce 3D movies were made around the same time television was introduced. It was believed that this new approach would bring people back into the cinemas, but all efforts failed. The technology used for 3D was very expensive and unreliable, and the glasses that cinema-goers had to wear were known to cause headaches and dizziness. The mid-1960s marked the beginning of "New Hollywood", an influx of new talent in the industry. Storytelling was the primary goal of this new era, and subsequently, some of the best films were created backed by popular directors such as Martin Scorcese. Realism and innovative documentary techniques gave movies a much bigger value than ever before. Today, the percentage of moviegoers is rapidly falling. It's much easier to stream movies than ever before, and online services are increasing in popularity. Many believe that the present day movies are a peak of the film industry since the niche continues to narrow down. There are also speculations that virtual reality headsets could be the future of the industry. Genres could follow the pattern noticed in the past. Currently, action and adventure movies are leading the race as far as market share goes, with a whopping 48% combined. Cinemas are unlikely to die out, but moviegoing is probably going to become an event similar to that of a visit to a concert. Still, if you ever feel nostalgic about the past, websites like YouTube offer a bunch of free movies from the early days so that you can get a glimpse of where it all began.
CozyReel uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb.