Introduction

Abstract

This chapter (Introduction) explains how the emergence of fixed-site cinemas in Britain differed significantly from the patterns of development experienced a few years earlier in France, Germany and the USA. It notes why commentators have considered it appropriate to characterise the intensive phase of entrepreneurial activity witnessed in the sector between 1909 and 1914 as a classic form of investment boom, comparable to previous economic bubbles involving railway and mineral extraction companies. Statistics concerning the numbers of cinemas opened during the cinema boom period and their average sizes are presented. Existing literature concerned to study film exhibition from a business history perspective is discussed, and the organisation of the book is outlined.