A CENTURY OF INNOVATION AN ABRIDGED TIMELINE OF THE LAST 100 YEARS OF CINEMA PRESENTATION PRESENTED BY When B!"!##$%& P'! was founded Soviet Union, and the United States. in ()*+, cinema had already evolved As production technology improved, from an obscure technology into a full- audiences grew, paving the way for a fledged entertainment industry. Silent booming film and exhibition industry. pictures had matured as an art form While this timeline is by no means throughout the first two decades of the exhaustive, it highlights some of the *+th century, creating national hubs for notable technological innovations in production, distribution, and exhibition motion picture presentation over the in countries like France, Germany, the last (++ years of our history. Winter 2020 67 THEATER A CENTURY OF INNOVATION Left: A Vitaphone projection setup at a 1926 demonstration. Engineer E.B. Craft is holding a soundtrack disc Below: Moviegoers outside the theater for the premiere of Warner Bros.’ Don Juan. 1923 1927 Lee de Forest unveils Phonofilm, Warner Bros. releases The an optical sound-on-film format Jazz Singer, the first American that converts sound into light feature film to use sound waves and reproduces them on technology to reproduce 1927 a photographic strip running dialogue. The Jazz Singer only Abel Gance’s Napoleon alongside a reel of -. mm film. featured sound in selected includes a sequence meant More than *++ short films are scenes, and the studio would to be exhibited on a triptych made in Phonofilm, but de Forest go on to debut its first “all- screen, employing multiple never seriously interests talkie” feature, The Lights of projectors. The title is the Hollywood in his invention. New York, in ()*,. first major film to pioneer the panoramic screen concept and inspires later innovations in wide-screen formats. 1926 1927 Western Electric introduces Warner Bros.’ Don Juan its sound-on-film technology, becomes the first film to use subsequently adopted by Fox VitaPhone synchronized-sound Film Corporation and the technology. Although it does “Big Five” leading production not feature spoken dialogue, companies of the era: MGM, the film does include a musical Universal, First National, score and sound effects. Paramount, and Producers Distributing Corporation. 68 Winter 2020 1929 1933 1940 After a series of mergers, German Warner Bros. releases !"nd Disney’s Fantasia becomes the firm Tobis-Klangfilm ramps Street, a commercial hit that first commercial feature film up production of its sound inspires a wave of studio to be released in stereo sound. technology—scooping up most musicals. !"nd Street is the During the title’s roadshow of Europe’s most influential culmination of some of its release, the technology, called markets in the process. era’s most advanced film Fantasound, proves expensive Tobis-Klangfilm’s Tri-Ergon technologies, including and time consuming to install. format emerges as the biggest musical numbers with It would take over a decade competitor of the Western synchronized sound and to be widely adopted by the Electric sound system embraced intricately choreographed industry. by Hollywood, setting off a global sequences using crane and competition in the growing dolly shots. global sound cinema market. 1939 1929 The commercial and critical Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail, success of MGM’s The Wizard released in both sound and of Oz paves a golden-brick road silent formats, is a breakout for the future adoption of color box office hit in the United film in Hollywood. Kingdom. Winter 2020 69 THEATER A CENTURY OF INNOVATION 1952 1953 Competition from television Wide-screen format helps drive color films and CinemaScope is introduced wide-screen formats in with the release of *+th Century 1955 Hollywood. Cinerama, which Fox’s The Robe. Competing employs the use of three technologies, including Hong The Todd-AO non- projectors to create a triptych Kong’s ShawScope and Japan’s anamorphic wide-screen presentation on a panoramic TohoScope, would also emerge format makes its debut screen, becomes a pioneer in in major foreign markets with RKO’s musical premium large-format (PLF) through the second half of Oklahoma! exhibition. the ’.+s. 1953 The stereoscopic --D craze kicks 1954 off with the release of high-profile titles from Hollywood studios. VistaVision joins the wide- --D is employed across diverse screen wars with the release of genres by nearly every major Paramount’s White Christmas. studio in Hollywood, including The format’s influence would Columbia (Man in the Dark, linger for decades and would Fort Ti), Warner Bros. (House of then be retooled to aid in Wax), Fox (Inferno), MGM (Kiss the special effects–laden Me Kate), and Universal (It Came production of the original Star from Outer Space). Wars trilogy. 70 Winter 2020 1956 1959 Panavision begins introducing Columbia’s The Tingler an array of wide-screen introduces an early experiment formats. Non-anamorphic in the field of immersive seating formats like Super Panavision with Percepto, wherein seats in 1965 2+ and Ultra Panavision 2+ select theaters were equipped help further the footprint and with a small electronic motor Dolby Laboratories appeal of wide-screen cinema that would activate at specific (Dolby) is founded in in the ensuing years. moments in the film. It would London by Ray Dolby take nearly .+ years for the (above). One year later, concept to be embraced by the company introduces mainstream cinema chains. A-type noise reduction for music recording. 1958 Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo becomes the first American 1960 feature film to use computer With early experiments animation. Experimental in motion seating and animator John Whitney stereoscopic --D already under produced spiral animations for way, scented screenings hit the the opening credits by rigging big screen through the use of up a computerized animation gimmick-driven technologies stand using a WWII antiaircraft- like Smell-O-Vision and gun system. AromaRama. Neither format takes off with audiences. Winter 2020 71 THEATER A CENTURY OF INNOVATION 1976 1971 1979 The first batch of films using A Clockwork Orange Steadicam cameras hits U.S. Dolby Laboratories becomes the first film cinemas. Titles like Bound receives the Academy to use Dolby noise for Glory, Marathon Man, of Motion Picture Arts reduction. and Rocky are among the and Sciences’ Scientific first notable films to use the and Engineering Award motion-stabilizing technology for “improved film in select sequences, allowing sound recording and greater tracking and reproduction system.” movement within the frame. In the same year, Dolby applies noise-reduction techniques to the magnetic soundtracks on 2+ mm film, allowing 1975 Apocalypse Now to reap Dolby introduces Dolby the full benefits of ..( Stereo, a highly practical surround sound. -. mm stereo optical 1977 release print format with the release of Ken Dolby receives acclaim Russell’s Lisztomania, with the release of Star the first feature film for Wars and Close Encounters general release with this of the Third Kind, both in technology. Dolby Stereo. 72 Winter 2020 1982 1999 TRON, featuring an extended Star Wars: Episode I — The sequence using only computer Phantom Menace becomes graphics imaging (CGI), as well the first studio feature film as several scenes that mix CGI 1992 to be projected digitally to with live-action performances, Batman Returns, the first a moviegoing audience, becomes a box office hit. The film released in Dolby signaling the start of an title’s success encourages the Digital, premieres in (+ industry-wide shift to digital future adoption of CGI by U.S. theaters. projection technology. major studio productions. 1989 1995 Pixar’s Toy Story, released Ray Dolby and Ioan Allen by Disney, becomes the first are awarded Oscars for fully CGI-animated full-length “continuing contributions feature film. The title is a box to motion picture sound office success, changing the through the research and course of animated film. development programs of Dolby Laboratories.” Winter 2020 73 THEATER A CENTURY OF INNOVATION 2005 2001 --D returns to the cinema The number of cinemas as Disney’s Chicken Little equipped with Dolby introduces digital --D into the Digital totals more than market and opens the door to a 2009 -+,+++, surpassing all other slew of titles—and competing Immersive seating technology formats in North America technologies—to movie moves beyond its humble alone and worldwide. theaters worldwide. origins as an exhibition gimmick, with studio support from titles such as Universal’s Fast & Furious helping redefine the role and potential of motion seating at the movies. 2002 2009 Universal’s Apollo #$ (()).) *+th Century Fox releases is the first studio title to be James Cameron’s Avatar. digitally remastered and Featuring cutting-edge digital rereleased in Imax, renewing cinema technology—including consumer demand for premium digital --D—the film breaks large-format Hollywood films. box office records worldwide and cements the future dominance of digital cinema. 74 Winter 2020 2010 2014 2015 Dolby Surround 2.( is Digital cinema projection Dolby launches Dolby unveiled with the release experiences its first major Cinema, a premium of Disney/Pixar’s Toy evolution with the advent of moviegoing offering Story $, advancing cinema laser projectors. combining Dolby Vision audio with eight discrete with Dolby Atmos and channels to establish four a thoughtfully designed surround zones within an auditorium for an auditorium. unparalleled cinematic experience. Dolby Vision technology offers a dual 3K laser high dynamic 2014 range (HDR) projector Panoramic screens make system boasting a picture 2012 a comeback in the digital- twice as bright with .++ Dolby launches Dolby Atmos, cinema era. *+th Century times the contrast ratio, a new audio technology that Fox’s The Maze Runner is the blacker blacks, and an changes the experience of first title from a major studio unsurpassed color palette. sound in entertainment, with to use a three-screen digital This move fortifies the the debut of Disney/Pixar’s panoramic setup.