<P> The cinema of the United States, often metonymously referred to as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on the film industry in general since the early 20th century . The dominant style of American cinema is classical Hollywood cinema, which developed from 1917 to 1960 and characterizes most films made there to this day . While Frenchmen Auguste and Louis Lumière are generally credited with the birth of modern cinema, American cinema quickly came to be the most dominant force in the industry as it emerged . Since the 1920s, the film industry of the United States has had higher annual grosses than any other country's . It produces the largest number of films of any single - language national cinema, with more than 800 English - language films released on average every year . While the national cinemas of the United Kingdom (299), Canada (206), and Australia and New Zealand also produce films in the same language, they are not considered part of the Hollywood system . Hollywood has also been considered a transnational cinema . Classical Hollywood produced multiple language versions of some titles, often in Spanish or French . Contemporary Hollywood offshores production to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand . </P> <P> Hollywood is the oldest film industry in the world, and is considered the birthplace of various genres of cinema--among them comedy, drama, action, the musical, romance, horror, science fiction and the war epic--having set an example for other national film industries . It produced the world's first sound (talkie) as well as musical film The Jazz Singer . </P> <P> In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated the power of photography to capture motion . In 1894, the world's first commercial motion - picture exhibition was given in New York City, using Thomas Edison's kinetoscope . The United States produced the world's first sync - sound musical film, The Jazz Singer, in 1927, and was at the forefront of sound - film development in the following decades . Since the early 20th century, the US film industry has largely been based in and around the 30 Mile Zone in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California . Director D.W. Griffith was central to the development of a film grammar . Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited in critics' polls as the greatest film of all time . </P> <P> The major film studios of Hollywood are the primary source of the most commercially successful and most ticket selling movies in the world, such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Ten Commandments (1956), The Sound of Music (1965), The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), Titanic (1997), The Dark Knight (2008), Avatar (2009), Marvel's The Avengers (2012), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Jurassic World (2015), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Moreover, many of Hollywood's highest - grossing movies have generated more box - office revenue and ticket sales outside the United States than films made elsewhere . Today, American film studios collectively generate several hundred movies every year, making the United States one of the most prolific producers of films in the world and a leading pioneer in motion picture engineering and technology . </P>

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