When Movies Were Theater: Architecture, Exhibition, and the Evolution of American Film

There was a time when seeing a movie meant more than seeing a film. The theater itself helped shape the perception of events onscreen. This multilayered history tells the story of American film through the evolution of theater architecture and the surprisingly varied ways movies were exhibited, beginning with Edison’s 1896 projections and ending with the 1968 Cinerama premiere of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001. The study matches distinct architectural forms to the styles of movies produced, showing how cinema’s roots in theater influenced business and production practices, exhibition strategies, and film technologies.