First purpose built movie theater in the world?

[Darren Nemeth]

IMDB.com says this in the entry for The Passion Play of Oberammergau (1898) .

"Since there were no purpose built cinemas in 1898, after its first spectacular run on Broadway, the film was incorporated into religious services."

Where was the first built? Anyone know?

[misspickford9]

I remember something about a nickelodeon built where Macy's now stands in New York. Supposedly it was one of the first (we're talkng when flickers were minutes long and pre Griffith)

[boblipton]

No, that was the site of the famoud 1894 show. There's a brass placque to that effect.

Bob

[Chris Snowden]

IMDB.com says this in the entry for The Passion Play of Oberammergau (1898) .

"Since there were no purpose built cinemas in 1898, after its first spectacular run on Broadway, the film was incorporated into religious services."

Where was the first built? Anyone know?

It was the Cinema Omnia Pathe in Paris, which opened in December 1906.

[Harlett O'Dowd]

Where was the first built? Anyone know?

It was the Cinema Omnia Pathe in Paris, which opened in December 1906.[/quote]

Technically, the first structure built for the express purpose of projecting film was for the September 1895 Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. There Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat exhibited their wares. They were not successful and the group of structures that included the "theatre" burned to the ground long before the Exposition concluded in December. The structure was not rebuilt.

I'm assuming this was some sort of row of booth/tent structures but have been unable to find any photos to confirm just what sort of structure the "theatre" was.

[FrankFay]

Would Edweard Muybridge's Zoopraxic Hall at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition count? It was more of a scientific exhibition than an entertainment proposition, but they were projected moving images.

[Harlett O'Dowd]

Would Edweard Muybridge's Zoopraxic Hall at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition count? It was more of a scientific exhibition than an entertainment proposition, but they were projected moving images.

was the structure designed for any other purpose? Was admission charged to view the projected film?

[FrankFay]

Here's some information:
http://www.victorian-cinema.net/venues.htm

[urbanora]

The Zoopraxographical Hall at Chicago World's Columbian Exposition showed motion pictures in 1893, and was built for the purpose. They weren't motion pictures on film, but as animations on disc based on Eadweard Muybridge's photographic sequences (in silhouette form) they moved. Only a second or two long, but cinema had to start somewhere.

[Darren Nemeth]

IMDB.com says this in the entry for The Passion Play of Oberammergau (1898) .

"Since there were no purpose built cinemas in 1898, after its first spectacular run on Broadway, the film was incorporated into religious services."

Where was the first built? Anyone know?

It was the Cinema Omnia Pathe in Paris, which opened in December 1906.

Are there any photos of it?

[Darren Nemeth]

I found this http://william-m-drew.webs.com/apps/pho ... d=26062937



DAGUANLOU CINEMA, BEIJING
"The principal movie theatre in Bejing in 1910, it had been established in 1903 and, continuing ever since, is believed to be the world's oldest operating film theatre. "