First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio. It later merged with Warner Bros.
The First National Exhibitors' Circuit was founded in 1917 by the merger of 26 of the biggest first run cinema chains in the United States of America, eventually controlling over 600 cinemas, more than 200 of them so-cal...
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First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio. It later merged with Warner Bros.
The First National Exhibitors' Circuit was founded in 1917 by the merger of 26 of the biggest first run cinema chains in the United States of America, eventually controlling over 600 cinemas, more than 200 of them so-called "first run" houses (as opposed to the "second run" neighborhood theaters to which films moved when their first run boxoffice receipts dwindled).
First National was the brainchild of Thomas L. Tally, who was reacting to the overwhelming influence of Paramount Pictures, which dominated the market. In 1912, he thought that a conglomorate of theaters throughout the nation could buy and/or produce and distribute their own films. Tally was soon partnered with West Virginian James Dixon Williams, and they formed First National Exhibitors Circuit....
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