The first form of motion picture exhibition was the kinetoscope back in the 19th century. Its purpose was not for an audience to view the film, but specifically for one person. Its structure was so that an individual could look into a window and see the movie take place. The images in the kinetoscope had a similar format to that of flip books.

On August 24th 1891, the motion picture exhibition device is patented by Thomas Edison.

Even though Edison patented the device in the United States, he did not do an international patent. Therefore many international imitations of the kinetoscope were made.