Distributor > First National Exhibitors' Circuit Inc.Opened in 1917. Closed in 1919. Also Produced Movies |  |
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 called First National Pictures, Inc. First National was the brainchild of Thomas L. Tally, who was reacting to the overwhelming influence of Paramount Pictures, which dominated the market. It 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. |
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