The film industry comprises companies that produce, distribute, and exhibit films. Major film production centers include the United States, India, and Nigeria. The first feature film was made in Australia in 1906. In the early 1900s, many production companies moved from New York to Hollywood, California due to the good weather. Hollywood soon emerged as the dominant film industry center, and the first Academy Awards ceremony was held there in 1929. Major historic Hollywood film studios include Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, Universal Studios, and Disney.
1. Industry research
What is a film industry?
The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and
commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios,
cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film
festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew personnel.
Currently, the largest markets by box office are United States, China, and Japan;
and the countries with the largest number of film productions are India, Nigeria
and the United States. Other centers include Hong Kong and in Europe the United
Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany are the countries that lead movie
production.
When was the first feature film made?
The first feature film to be made was the 1906 Australian silent The Story of the
Kelly Gang. In the early 1910s, the film industry had fully emerged with D.W. Griffith's
The Birth of a Nation. Also in the early 1900s motion picture production
companies from New York and New Jersey started moving to California because
of the good weather and longer days.
The Hollywood Industry
The first movie studio in the Hollywood area, Nestor Studios, was founded in 1911 by
Al Christie for David Horsley in an old building on the northwest corner of Sunset
Boulevard and Gower Street.
Hollywood is notable for its place as the home of the entertainment industry, including
several of its historic studios. Its name has come to be a metonym for the motion picture
industry of the United States.
Hollywood was a small community in 1870. It officially merged with the city of Los
Angeles in 1910, and soon thereafter a prominent film industry began to emerge,
eventually becoming the most dominant and recognized in the world.
The first Academy Awards presentation ceremony took place on May 16, 1929, during
a banquet held in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood
Boulevard. Tickets were USD $10.00 and there were 250 people in attendance.
Major Film Studios in Hollywood
From about 1930 five major Hollywood movie studios from all over the Los Angeles
area, Paramount, RKO, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner
2. Bros. owned large, grand theaters throughout the country for the exhibition of their
movies.
Paramount Pictures
20th Century fox
Warner Bros.
Columbia Pictures