Cinema is a multi-billion dollar global industry - 42 billion USD to be exact (2019).
Throw in home entertainment revenue (DVD’s, Netflix, TV streaming services), and you’re
looking at around 136 billion USD; that’s some serious shooting!
‘Roundhay Garden Scene’ - this is the title of the first-ever motion picture believed
to be recorded in Leeds, England, back in 1888 by Mr. Louis Le Prince, a French artist.
The movie lasted only 2.11 seconds, was shot using a single lens camera and a strip of
paper film, and earned Mr. Le Prince “The Father of Cinematography’ label!
Just three years later in 1891, the Edison Company (yes, that of the same light bulb
inventor, Thomas Edison) built a kinetoscope; a peep-hole viewer which enabled one person
at a time to view moving pictures.
The first public demonstration took place in 1893 and was a huge success, leading to
kinetoscope parlors being established all around the world to show these movies - initial
movie theaters, so to speak.
These short movies, around 20 seconds in length, ranged from circus performances and dancing
women to boxing matches and cockfights.
Unfortunately, the life of the kinetoscope was short; these parlors did not survive the
introduction of the cinema about a year later in Paris, France, by the Lumière brothers.
Famous for inventing the cinématographe, a camera, projector, and film printer all
in one, the projection of moving photographic images on a screen for a paying audience - cinema
- was born.
Most of these shows comprised about ten films and lasted 15 minutes total, depicting scenes
from everyday life - workers leaving a factory, a train pulling into a station, families walking
down a street.
It wasn’t long before the Lumière brothers realized that viewers needed more interesting
scenes to keep them coming back for more.
And so, cameramen began traveling the world for more exciting imagery.
Cinema became global.
Not only for entertainment but also as a medium for transmitting information, both domestically
and internationally.
Movies went from being black and white to color in the early 1900’s, and from silent
to including synchronized dialogue in the late 1920’s.
During the 1930’s and 40’s, cinema was the principal form of public entertainment,
especially in the US and most of Europe.
As more people paid to see movies, the industry grew, and naturally, more time, money, and
effort were invested to produce better films.
Hollywood is, by a long shot, the most influential (and the oldest) movie industry in the world,
followed by Bollywood, the unofficial name for Hindi cinema from India.
In 2020, China overtook America as the world’s biggest box office in terms of revenue, with
the highest annual ticket sales ever sold.
Disney is the dominant studio powerhouse which pretty much rules the film industry worldwide,
especially since its acquisition of Pixar in 2006 and Marvel a few years later in 2009.
But what is the future of movies?
Well, with the introduction of Netflix and other streaming platforms and the after-effects
of the pandemic proving that home theater can be just as fun (and definitely a whole
lot cheaper), watching movies at home has become the new global trend.
In addition, where movies used to be our only entry into the lives of celebrities, movie
stars, and CGI, Generation Z are overloaded with social media platforms following famous
celebrities and actors, storylines, previews, any time, any place, anywhere they want…they
no longer need to see the movie to know the movie.
Surely, the Lumière brothers must be rolling in their graves…