Editing Movie theater (section)

===Precursors===
Movie theatres stand in a long tradition of [[theater]]s that could house all kinds of entertainment. Some forms of theatrical entertainment would involve the screening of moving images and can be regarded as [[precursors of film]].

In 1799, [[Étienne-Gaspard Robert|Étienne-Gaspard "Robertson" Robert]] moved his [[phantasmagoria|Phantasmagorie]] show to an abandoned cloister near the [[Place Vendôme]] in Paris. The eerie surroundings, with a graveyard and ruins, formed an ideal location for his ghostraising spectacle.

When it opened in 1838, The Royal Polytechnic Institution in London became a very popular and influential venue with all kinds of [[magic lantern]] shows as an important part of its program. At the main theatre, with 500 seats, lanternists would make good use of a battery of six large lanterns running on tracked tables to project the finely detailed images of extra large slides on the 648 square feet screen. The magic lantern was used to illustrate lectures, concerts, pantomimes and other forms of theatre. Popular magic lantern presentations included phantasmagoria, mechanical slides, [[Henry Langdon Childe]]'s [[dissolving views]] and his chromatrope.<ref name=Heard2006>Heard, Mervyn. ''PHANTASMAGORIA: The Secret History of the Magic Lantern''. The Projection Box, 2006</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chQiAQAAMAAJ&q=childe+polytechnic&pg=PA410|title=The Magazine of Science, and Schools of Art – Vol. IV|year=1843|page=410|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=3 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703105124/https://books.google.com/books?id=chQiAQAAMAAJ&q=childe+polytechnic&pg=PA410|url-status=live}}</ref>

The earliest known public screening of projected stroboscopic animation was presented by Austrian magician Ludwig Döbler on 15 January 1847 at the Josephstadt Theatre in [[Vienna]], with his patented Phantaskop. The animated spectacle was part of a well-received show that sold out in several European cities during a tour that lasted until the spring of 1848.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tnY-AQAAMAAJ&q=geyling%20phantaskop&pg=PA58|title=Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur, und geselliges Leben|date=1847|publisher=im Bureau der Theaterzeitung|language=de|access-date=7 December 2020|archive-date=3 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703105123/https://books.google.com/books?id=tnY-AQAAMAAJ&q=geyling%20phantaskop&pg=PA58|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=before1896>{{Cite journal|last=Rossell|first=Deac|title=The Exhibition of Moving Pictures before 1896|url=https://www.academia.edu/378569|language=en|access-date=7 December 2020|archive-date=16 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816035306/https://www.academia.edu/378569|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=geg&datum=18470118&seite=4&zoom=48&query=%22d%C3%B6bler%22&ref=anno-search|title=ANNO, Die Gegenwart. Politisch-literarisches Tagblatt, 1847-01-18, Seite 4|website=anno.onb.ac.at|access-date=2020-04-15|archive-date=6 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606143807/http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=geg&datum=18470118&seite=4&zoom=48&query=%22d%C3%B6bler%22&ref=anno-search|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=osm&datum=18470203&seite=2&zoom=33&query=%22d%C3%B6bler%22&ref=anno-search|title=ANNO, Österreichisches Morgenblatt; Zeitschrift für Vaterland, Natur und Leben, 1847-02-03, Seite 2|website=anno.onb.ac.at|access-date=2020-04-15|archive-date=6 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606153706/http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=osm&datum=18470203&seite=2&zoom=33&query=%22d%C3%B6bler%22&ref=anno-search/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The famous Parisian entertainment venue [[Le Chat Noir]] opened in 1881 and is remembered for its [[shadow play]]s, renewing the popularity of such shows in France.