Pre-War Cinematograph

By 1907, the USA was the most advanced world state in the field of screen film entertainment. Cinema theaters had stopped being traveling 'tents' by that time and established themselves in the way of 4,000 small "nickelodeons" (the admission fee was a nickel or 5 cents). The larger cities had bigger cinemas because they could admit more people.

The show lasted for about 30 minutes and not longer. The programme was changed twice a week but didn't last for the whole year. In other countries, the situation with screen film was roughly the same.

In 1908, major American companies united their efforts and patents to be in charge of American film business. They merged a new company under the name of Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC). Still, some of those companies didn't manage to meet the challenge within the next several years. However, Vitagraph and Edison grew to be the strongest screen film industry leaders.

Still, the market turned to be bigger than the MPPC could present. Not all cinema theaters agreed to sign contract with MPPC. Its global widespread was reached only 1912.

Still, the pre-war period is considered to be much more progressive in the screen film history compared to the first decade. The next period is the First World War period.