A CENTURY OF
INNOVATIONAN ABRIDGED
TIMELINE OF THE LAST
100 YEARS OF CINEMAPRESENTATIONPRESENTED BY

When BOXOFFICE PRO was founded
in 1920, cinema had already evolved
from an obscure technology into a fullfledged entertainment industry. Silentpictures had matured as an art form
throughout the first two decades of the20th century, creating national hubs for
production, distribution, and exhibitionin countries like France, Germany, theSoviet Union, and the United States.
As production technology improved,audiences grew, paving the way for abooming film and exhibition industry.
While this timeline is by no means
exhaustive, it highlights some of thenotable technological innovations inmotion picture presentation over thelast 100 years of our history.
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THEATER A CENTURY OF INNOVATION
Left: A Vitaphone
projection setup at a1926 demonstration.
Engineer E.B. Craft isholding a soundtrack
disc
Below: Moviegoers
outside the theater forthe premiere of WarnerBros.’ Don Juan.

1923

1927

Lee de Forest unveils Phonofilm,
an optical sound-on-film format
that converts sound into lightwaves and reproduces them ona photographic strip runningalongside a reel of 35 mm film.
More than 200 short films are
made in Phonofilm, but de Forest
never seriously interests
Hollywood in his invention.

Warner Bros. releases The
Jazz Singer, the first Americanfeature film to use soundtechnology to reproduce
dialogue. The Jazz Singer only
featured sound in selectedscenes, and the studio would
go on to debut its first “alltalkie” feature, The Lights ofNew York, in 1928.

1926
Warner Bros.’ Don Juan
becomes the first film to use
VitaPhone synchronized-soundtechnology. Although it does
not feature spoken dialogue,
the film does include a musicalscore and sound effects.

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1927
Western Electric introduces
its sound-on-film technology,
subsequently adopted by Fox
Film Corporation and the“Big Five” leading production
companies of the era: MGM,Universal, First National,
Paramount, and Producers
Distributing Corporation.

1927

Abel Gance’s Napoleon
includes a sequence meant
to be exhibited on a triptych
screen, employing multiple
projectors. The title is thefirst major film to pioneer thepanoramic screen concept andinspires later innovations inwide-screen formats.

1929

1933

1940

After a series of mergers, Germanfirm Tobis-Klangfilm ramps
up production of its soundtechnology—scooping up mostof Europe’s most influential
markets in the process.
Tobis-Klangfilm’s Tri-Ergon
format emerges as the biggest
competitor of the WesternElectric sound system embracedby Hollywood, setting off a global
competition in the growing
global sound cinema market.

Warner Bros. releases 42ndStreet, a commercial hit thatinspires a wave of studiomusicals. 42nd Street is theculmination of some of its
era’s most advanced film
technologies, includingmusical numbers withsynchronized sound andintricately choreographedsequences using crane anddolly shots.

Disney’s Fantasia becomes thefirst commercial feature film
to be released in stereo sound.
During the title’s roadshow
release, the technology, called
Fantasound, proves expensive
and time consuming to install.
It would take over a decade
to be widely adopted by theindustry.

1929
Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail,released in both sound andsilent formats, is a breakout
box office hit in the United
Kingdom.

1939
The commercial and critical
success of MGM’s The Wizardof Oz paves a golden-brick roadfor the future adoption of color
film in Hollywood.

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1952

1953

Competition from television
helps drive color films andwide-screen formats inHollywood. Cinerama, which
employs the use of threeprojectors to create a triptych
presentation on a panoramicscreen, becomes a pioneer inpremium large-format (PLF)
exhibition.

Wide-screen format
CinemaScope is introducedwith the release of 20th Century
Fox’s The Robe. Competing
technologies, including Hong
Kong’s ShawScope and Japan’s
TohoScope, would also emerge
in major foreign marketsthrough the second half ofthe ’50s.

1953
The stereoscopic 3-D craze kicks
off with the release of high-profile
titles from Hollywood studios.
3-D is employed across diverse
genres by nearly every major
studio in Hollywood, including
Columbia (Man in the Dark,Fort Ti), Warner Bros. (House ofWax), Fox (Inferno), MGM (Kiss
Me Kate), and Universal (It Camefrom Outer Space).
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Winter 20201954
VistaVision joins the widescreen wars with the release of
Paramount’s White Christmas.
The format’s influence would
linger for decades and would
then be retooled to aid inthe special effects–laden
production of the original Star
Wars trilogy.

1955
The Todd-AO nonanamorphic wide-screen
format makes its debutwith RKO’s musicalOklahoma!

1956

1959

Panavision begins introducing
an array of wide-screen
formats. Non-anamorphic
formats like Super Panavision
70 and Ultra Panavision 70
help further the footprint andappeal of wide-screen cinema
in the ensuing years.

Columbia’s The Tingler
introduces an early experimentin the field of immersive seatingwith Percepto, wherein seats inselect theaters were equippedwith a small electronic motorthat would activate at specificmoments in the film. It would
take nearly 50 years for theconcept to be embraced bymainstream cinema chains.

1965
Dolby Laboratories(Dolby) is founded in
London by Ray Dolby(above). One year later,
the company introduces
A-type noise reduction formusic recording.

1958
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo
becomes the first Americanfeature film to use computer
animation. Experimental
animator John Whitney
produced spiral animations forthe opening credits by rigging
up a computerized animation
stand using a WWII antiaircraftgun system.

1960
With early experiments
in motion seating andstereoscopic 3-D already underway, scented screenings hit thebig screen through the use ofgimmick-driven technologies
like Smell-O-Vision andAromaRama. Neither format
takes off with audiences.
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1976

1971
A Clockwork Orange
becomes the first film
to use Dolby noise
reduction.

The first batch of films using
Steadicam cameras hits U.S.
cinemas. Titles like Boundfor Glory, Marathon Man,and Rocky are among thefirst notable films to use themotion-stabilizing technology
in select sequences, allowing
greater tracking andmovement within the frame.

1975
Dolby introduces Dolby
Stereo, a highly practical
35 mm stereo opticalrelease print format
with the release of Ken
Russell’s Lisztomania,
the first feature film forgeneral release with thistechnology.

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1977
Dolby receives acclaim
with the release of Star
Wars and Close Encountersof the Third Kind, both inDolby Stereo.

1979
Dolby Laboratories
receives the Academyof Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences’ Scientificand Engineering Awardfor “improved filmsound recording andreproduction system.”In the same year, Dolby
applies noise-reduction
techniques to themagnetic soundtracks
on 70 mm film, allowing
Apocalypse Now to reap
the full benefits of 5.1
surround sound.

1982

1999

TRON, featuring an extended
sequence using only computer
graphics imaging (CGI), as well
as several scenes that mix CGI
with live-action performances,becomes a box office hit. The
title’s success encourages thefuture adoption of CGI bymajor studio productions.

Star Wars: Episode I — The
Phantom Menace becomesthe first studio feature film
to be projected digitally toa moviegoing audience,
signaling the start of anindustry-wide shift to digitalprojection technology.

1989
Ray Dolby and Ioan Allen
are awarded Oscars for“continuing contributions
to motion picture soundthrough the research anddevelopment programs ofDolby Laboratories.”

1992
Batman Returns, the first
film released in Dolby
Digital, premieres in 10U.S. theaters.

1995
Pixar’s Toy Story, released
by Disney, becomes the first
fully CGI-animated full-lengthfeature film. The title is a box
office success, changing thecourse of animated film.

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2005

2001

74

The number of cinemasequipped with Dolby
Digital totals more than
30,000, surpassing all otherformats in North America
alone and worldwide.

3-D returns to the cinema
as Disney’s Chicken Little
introduces digital 3-D into themarket and opens the door to aslew of titles—and competing
technologies—to movie
theaters worldwide.

2002

2009

Universal’s Apollo 13 (1995)
is the first studio title to bedigitally remastered andrereleased in Imax, renewing
consumer demand for premium
large-format Hollywood films.

20th Century Fox releases
James Cameron’s Avatar.
Featuring cutting-edge digital
cinema technology—including
digital 3-D—the film breaks
box office records worldwide
and cements the future
dominance of digital cinema.

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2009
Immersive seating technology
moves beyond its humble
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.

2010

2015

2014

Dolby Surround 7.1 isunveiled with the releaseof Disney/Pixar’s Toy
Story 3, advancing cinema
audio with eight discrete
channels to establish four
surround zones within anauditorium.

Digital cinema projection
experiences its first major
evolution with the advent oflaser projectors.

2014
2012
Dolby launches Dolby Atmos,
a new audio technology thatchanges the experience ofsound in entertainment, withthe debut of Disney/Pixar’sBrave. This new platform
introduces two importantconcepts to cinema sound:audio objects and overhead
speakers.

Panoramic screens makea comeback in the digitalcinema era. 20th Century
Fox’s The Maze Runner is thefirst title from a major studioto use a three-screen digital
panoramic setup. Competing
formats emerge to stake aclaim in the increasinglycompetitive premium largeformat market, with Dolby
Atmos object-based audio as
the preferred choice.

Dolby launches Dolby
Cinema, a premium
moviegoing offering
combining Dolby Vision
with Dolby Atmos anda thoughtfully designed
auditorium for an
unparalleled cinematic
experience. Dolby Vision
technology offers a dual
4K laser high dynamic
range (HDR) projector
system boasting a picture
twice as bright with 500
times the contrast ratio,
blacker blacks, and an
unsurpassed color palette.
This move fortifies thegrowing PLF market for
the exhibition industry.
Tomorrowland is the firstfilm to use both Dolby
Vision and Dolby Atmos.

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THEATER A CENTURY OF INNOVATIONDOLBYINNOVATIONSTODAYDolby Cinema

260+
Dolby Cinema locations open
across the globe, with over
200 additional locationscommitted.

330+
theatrical titles mastered inDolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
have been released in Dolby
Cinema with participationfrom every major studio.

Dolby Atmos

6100+
Dolby Atmos screens installed
or committed in 90+ countries.

2018

Dolby and Wanda
Cinema Line announce
a partnership to bring
the first Dolby Cinema
locations to China.

Dolby and Odeon Cinemas
Group announce apartnership to bring Dolby
Cinema to the U.K. Dolby
is also chosen as exclusive
partner to debut Bradley
Cooper’s directorial debut,
A Star is Born, at Dolby
Cinema locations.

2017
Dolby and Les Cinémas
Gaumont Pathé announce
a partnership to launch
Dolby Cinema locations
in France and theNetherlands. Dolby opens
the 100th Dolby Cinema
location in the world.

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1,850+

2016

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2020
Dolby announces
partnerships with
Megabox, AMC Theatres,and muvi Cinemas toexpand Dolby Cinema intoKorea and the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia.

1,700+ features released orcommitted in Dolby Atmos.