The earliest history of cinematic film spans from its origins in North America and Europe in the 1880s until a decade later when the Lumiere Brothers made their fortune on the first working movie projector. By 1900, Charles Pathe was successful in establishing a highly reputable film studio in Britain. Small picture machines called nickelodeons were introduce in Pittsburgh in 1905. The nickelodeon was merely a novelty that would fade, but cinematic films would last far into the twentieth century.
In 1908, the Motion Picture Patents Company along with Eastman/Kodak became the leader in cinematic film released and distributed throughout the United States. At the same time in France, film entrepreneur Leon Gaumont created a successful film studio that still operates in France today.
By the Armistice of 1918, the epicenter of filmmaking in the United States shifted from Chicago to Los Angeles. Filmmaking in Europe was almost non-existent after the devastation of the First World War. The 1920′s was an exciting time for silent filmmaking in Hollywood with like Rudolph Valentino and Charlie Chaplin making cinematic history.
In conclusion, the history of silent film is a window into the beginning of media powerhouse that has a lasting legacy today.