The document provides a historical overview of the film industry from the 1890s to the 1990s. It discusses the key developments and eras in three sentences:
The early history of film from the 1890s to the 1920s saw the invention of motion picture cameras, the establishment of film studios, and the rise of the film industry as mass entertainment before the introduction of sound. The 1950s saw the popularity of large-scale biblical and historical epics as well as the golden ages of cinema in India, Japan, and the Philippines. The 1990s saw major studios create independent production companies to finance non-mainstream films as audiences began increasingly watching films at home on VCRs.