Cinema has always evolved through bold experiments—some
technical, some artistic, some just plain weird. Long before streaming, CGI or
4D theme‑park rides were normal, filmmakers and studios were testing out new
ideas that would quietly (or loudly) change movie history forever.
In this Cinema Awards Archive special, we look at 30 of the
most important “firsts” in movie history, from the first on‑screen rocket
launch and the first talkie to the first X‑rated Best Picture winner, the first
feature shot in a single take and the first film to accept cryptocurrency for
tickets. These milestones didn’t just create fun trivia—they helped shape how
movies are made, marketed and experienced today.
The Most Important Firsts in Movie History
1. A Trip to the Moon (1902) – First Movie to Show a Rocket Launching
Before we even knew space travel was a real possibility,
Hollywood was already envisioning it. Georges Méliès took audiences to the moon
in 1902 with A Trip to the Moon. Skip to 5:50 in the video above to see the
rocket get blasted out of a cannon—a fantastical take on a rocket launch for
sure, but an incredible cinematic feat for 1902.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) – First Spit‑Take on
the Silver Screen
Ah, the spit‑take, used thousands of times on celluloid to
depict shock and surprise. Juvenile and silly as it may be, the classic gag
still gets a laugh. The credit for the first spit‑take in a movie goes to Edwin
S. Porter’s Dream of a Rarebit Fiend from 1906. Check out the 0:30 mark in the
clip above to see Jack Brawn pull off the now‑iconic move.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. L’Inferno (1911) – First Fully Nude Male Performers
The unclothed human body has a long history in the movies,
going all the way back to L’Inferno, a 1911 Italian silent film. The film,
based on Dante’s literary work, depicts the obscene, the beautiful and the
damned. Notably, it features what is most likely the first male nude in the
movies. As a whole, the film is a reminder of the heady days of early cinema,
when everything was possible and permissible.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. A Little Hero (1913) – First Feline Movie Star
Movie history is filled with famous animal stars such as
Lassie, Rin Tin Tin and the many creatures who regularly appear in animated
movies geared toward children. Although cats haven’t been quite as popular as
their canine counterparts, there are still a number of famous felines,
including Morris the Cat.
The very first famous cat, however, was Pepper. She was born
on the soundstage of Keystone Studios, founded by Mack Sennett, and as soon as
she inadvertently wandered onto the stage while filming, he knew she was a
star. She would go on to appear in numerous movies produced by Sennett’s
studios, which became synonymous with the slapstick comedy style. Pepper found
true stardom in A Little Hero, in which she was paired with Teddy the Dog. She
would later work with some of the biggest Hollywood stars, including Charlie
Chaplin.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Vice Versa (1916) – First Film with Body Swapping
The plotline of body swapping has been used a lot since its
debut in 1916 with Vice Versa, where a pretentious father switches bodies with
his young son. We’ve seen it in several modern movies like Prelude to a Kiss,
Freaky Friday and All of Me. Vice Versa was remade in 1988, starring Fred
Savage and Judge Reinhold.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. The Jazz Singer (1927) – First “Talkie”
The Jazz Singer was not the first movie to use sound (Don
Juan used synchronized sound in 1926); however, it was the first feature‑length
film with synchronized dialogue sequences. The Jazz Singer signalled the end of
silent cinema, even though most of the film was actually silent except for a
few songs and scattered segments of dialogue. It’s perhaps most remembered for
Al Jolson’s performance of “Mammy” and his famous line, “Wait a minute, wait a
minute, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. The Crooked Circle (1932) – First Film to Be Shown on
Television
Now we can watch a movie almost anywhere—on our computers,
phones, even our watches—but it wasn’t long ago when the only way to watch a
film was in an actual movie theatre. The tides began to turn in the early
1930s, a time when most folks didn’t even own a television set.
The city of Los Angeles was able to broadcast The Crooked
Circle over its experimental station W6XAO to every television in the city—too
bad there were only about a half‑dozen TVs in LA at the time.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8. It Happened One Night (1934) – First Movie to Win the
Big Five at the Oscars
The romantic comedy It Happened One Night was the first
movie to win “The Big Five” (the five major awards) at the Academy Awards in
1935. Clark Gable won for Best Actor, Claudette Colbert for Best Actress, Frank
Capra for Best Director, Robert Riskin for Best Writing and the film itself won
for Best Picture.
The only two other films to have achieved this honor are One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9. Now, Voyager (1942) – First “Nerdy Girl” Makeover
Clueless, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Princess Diaries
are just a few of the many makeover films that turn a mousy young girl into a
beautiful princess. The trope seems to start with Now, Voyager.
In the film, Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis)—an awkward, shy,
overweight spinster who is pitied for her unkempt appearance and
lifestyle—transforms into a confident woman after spending time in a sanatorium
(the old‑school version of a beauty salon?).
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10. House of Wax (1953) – First Major‑Studio 3D Film
Three‑dimensional films have been around a lot longer than
most people think. Warner Bros. released the first movie from a major studio
shot entirely in 3D in 1953. House of Wax, starring Vincent Price, was also one
of the first horror films to be shot in color. Audiences had to wear special
glasses to see the full effect, just like they do today.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11. Island in the Sun (1957) – First Interracial Kiss
Island in the Sun, a film about race relations, featured the
silver screen’s first interracial kiss. Despite the controversy surrounding the
movie, it was still a box‑office success. One of the film’s stars, Joan
Fontaine, said that she received hate mail for portraying a woman in a mixed‑race
relationship.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Psycho (1960) – First Toilet Flush on Film
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror classic Psycho was the first
time a toilet was shown being flushed in a movie. The scene occurs just before
Marion (Janet Leigh) steps into the shower, so this first was actually the last
time that Marion Crane would ever use a toilet. Violently killing off the lead
character halfway through the movie was also a pretty big deal.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
13. By Love Possessed (1961) – First In‑Flight Movie
Though flying can be infuriating, entertainment can provide
relief from long flight times, limited seat room and stale, circulated air.
Today, most airplanes offer a large selection of films you can watch on a
screen built into the seat in front of you (if you haven’t already downloaded
films or shows to your own device).
In‑flight movies didn’t become part of the flying experience
until 1961, introduced by Trans World Airlines. The film chosen to pioneer this
new consumer perk was By Love Possessed, a sumptuous melodrama starring Lana
Turner, whose character Marjorie begins an affair with her husband’s business
partner. The technology itself was pioneered by David Flexer, who wanted to
make flying less boring.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
14. Goldfinger (1964) – First Film Featuring a GPS‑Like
Device
Way before we all had GPS in our cars and phones, James Bond
(Sean Connery) was able to track the villain Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) in real
time in the 1964 spy movie Goldfinger. Bond places a tracking device in his
nemesis’s car and then tracks Goldfinger on the “satellite” navigation screen
of his Aston Martin DB5.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
15. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – First Karate Fight
on Film
Before Bruce Lee brought kung‑fu mania to American audiences
with Enter the Dragon (1973), The Manchurian Candidate showed the very first
karate fight sequence in American cinema.
The karate fight breaks out when Marco (Frank Sinatra) rings
the bell at Shaw’s (Laurence Harvey) apartment and the new valet Chunjin
answers. Marco, who has been brainwashed, recognizes the valet, helping to
trigger painful wartime memories he had been repressing.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
16. Midnight Cowboy (1969) – First X‑Rated Movie to Win
an Oscar
Typically, an X rating is a kiss of death for a movie.
However, the X‑rated Midnight Cowboy won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1970,
right after the G‑rated Oliver! took it home in 1969.
The movie was controversial and shocking for its time. There
were nude scenes combined with depictions of drug use and sex, and the film was
a tragedy without a happy ending. Its X rating was eventually downgraded to an
R upon re‑release in 1970. In 1990, the MPAA did away with the X rating
altogether and replaced it with NC‑17, meaning Midnight Cowboy is the first—and
will remain the only—X‑rated movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
17. Blazing Saddles (1974) – First Audible American Fart
on Film
As a director, Mel Brooks has always pushed the boundaries
of acceptability, taking delight in using movies to explore the vulgar, the
silly and the downright ridiculous. Blazing Saddles (1974), a riotous spoof of
the Western genre, is a particularly notable example, and even today it manages
to be both scandalizing and hilarious.
Among other things, it is notable for including a scene in
which a group of cowboys, seated around a fire, begin to break wind—making this
the first instance of an audible American fart in the movies. Brooks, with his
characteristic wit, once said: “Blazing Saddles, for me, was a film that truly
broke ground. It also broke wind and maybe that’s why it broke ground.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
18. Barry Lyndon (1975) – First Movie Filmed Using Only
Candlelight
Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 film Barry Lyndon is a period drama
that follows the exploits of its title character, an Irish rogue who starts to
climb the social ladder. What sets the film apart is how much it immerses the
viewer in the 18th‑century world, right down to its lighting and atmosphere.
Much of that comes from Kubrick’s decision to light all of
his interior scenes exclusively with candles, a first in cinema. As always with
Kubrick, this caused major technical difficulties, but the final images proved
the experiment was worth it.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
19. Jaws (1975) – First Movie to Reach $100 Million at
the Box Office
Steven Spielberg was only 27 when he directed Jaws, and the
film totally changed cinema forever. Jaws pretty much invented the concept of
the summer blockbuster. During its initial run, the horror movie brought in
about $260 million, which may not seem huge by modern standards, but adjusted
for inflation it’s well over a billion dollars today.
Before Jaws, films were traditionally released only in major
markets, then slowly rolled out across the country. Jaws opened nationwide
right away, and distributors took notice of the massive box‑office potential of
wide releases.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
20. Red Dawn (1984) – First PG‑13 Rated Movie
Parents in the 1980s were concerned about violence in
several PG movies of the time, like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and
Gremlins. But those films didn’t quite deserve an R rating either. The MPAA
stepped in and found a middle ground in 1984.
They created the PG‑13 rating, which was first applied to
the Cold War teen drama Red Dawn. At the time of its release, Red Dawn was
deemed the most violent film ever by the Guinness Book of Records and the
National Coalition on Television Violence, due to its 134 acts of violence per
hour.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
21. The Sensorium (1984) – First Time Audiences
Experienced 4D
Hollywood has tried many gimmicks to draw in audiences,
including 4D, pioneered by The Sensorium in 1984. This movie‑going experience
took place at a Six Flags theme park in Baltimore, housed in an old power
plant.
The 4D experience was meant to be truly immersive, with
seats that shook, smells that wafted through the theater and extreme sound
effects. The plot of The Sensorium, about popular entertainment from the start
of the 20th century, was far less important than the technology. The theme park
shut down in 1987.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
22. Lethal Weapon (1987) – First Appearance of a Cell
Phone
It barely resembles the tiny cell phones we’re used to, but
Danny Glover’s character Roger Murtaugh has a cell phone in Lethal Weapon. The
two‑pound handset known as “the brick” became quite popular in the 1980s. You
may also remember Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) using one for on‑the‑go
financial wheeling and dealing in Wall Street (1987).
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
23. The Blues Brothers (1980) – First Saturday Night Live
Sketch to Become a Movie
Saturday Night Live has produced a lot of sketches that
turned into movies. Some are great (Wayne’s World), some are not so great
(MacGruber). The first sketch‑turned‑movie was 1980’s The Blues Brothers,
starring original SNL cast members Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as the Elwood
brothers, two men “on a mission from God.” There have been a total of 12 SNL‑inspired
movies since, but it’s hard to top the first.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
24. The Lawnmower Man (1992) – First Film to Depict
Virtual Reality
The Lawnmower Man introduced audiences to the world of
virtual reality. Even though the film received mixed reviews, the visual
effects were quite spectacular for its time. The story centers on turning a
simple‑minded gardener into a genius. The movie may be most known for its
virtual‑reality sex scene, which was also a cinema first.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
25. Toy Story (1995) – First Entirely CGI Movie
Pixar has made many great movies, but Toy Story was the very
first feature‑length animated film to be made entirely using CGI. The films in
the Toy Story franchise have grossed nearly 2 billion dollars worldwide.
Pixar’s CGI set a very high bar for the animation boom that followed in the two
decades after Toy Story’s release.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
26. Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees
(1993) – First “Streamer”
Although streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Max
might still seem relatively new, streaming has a surprisingly deep history,
going back to David Blair’s Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees.
Though the movie was originally released in 1992, it was
uploaded onto the nascent internet in 1993. Obviously, the quality was nothing
like what viewers encounter today, but it was still a major technical
achievement and set the stage for the many films—legitimate and otherwise—that
populated the internet in the decades to come.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
27. Russian Ark (2002) – First Feature Film Made Using
One Single Shot
Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark is a historical drama filmed
at the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum using one
uninterrupted 96‑minute Steadicam shot. That means there are no edits, no cuts
and absolutely no room for error. If there were a mistake 95 minutes into the
shot, the entire movie would have to be filmed again.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
28. Sex Drive (2008) – First American Movie to Use On‑Screen
Texting
When texting first became popular, filmmakers trying to show
a digital conversation often cut to a close‑up of the phone, or had characters
read texts out loud. Those were not efficient or visually engaging ways to show
texting between characters.
Then filmmakers got smart and discovered on‑screen
texting—placing the text bubbles in the frame instead of cutting away. That
approach appears in films like Sex Drive, and later was executed with excellent
results on television shows like House of Cards and Sherlock.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
29. What’s Your Raashee? (2009) – First Time an Actor
Played 12 Roles
Actors like Mike Myers made a name for themselves by playing
multiple roles in the same film (most notably in the Austin Powers series).
However, even Myers would be hard‑pressed to play 12 different characters, as
Priyanka Chopra does in the 2009 Hindi‑language film What’s Your Raashee?
The comedy is about a man who must marry to save his brother
and meets a prospective bride from each sign in the zodiac. The twist? Each
bride is played by Chopra. Despite her commitment to the parts, the film wasn’t
a success. As she later noted: “I would be lying if I said the What’s Your
Raashee? failure didn’t impact me. It did. It broke my heart because there was
a lot that went into the making of the film.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
30. Dope (2015) – First Theatrical Release to Accept
Cryptocurrency
If there’s one thing most moviegoers can agree on, it’s
this: it costs too much to go to the movies. However, not every film costs
traditional money to get into, as illustrated by the 2015 film Dope.
The film, a blend of coming‑of‑age drama and comedy, was
notable for many things, including its cast, which featured rap figures like
A$AP Rocky and Tyga. It also has the distinction of being the first
theatrically released film to accept cryptocurrency as payment for
tickets—fitting, since crypto is part of the plot. The exact mechanics of how
the process worked remain a bit unclear, in keeping with the arcane nature of
cryptocurrency itself.
From cannon‑launched rockets and candlelit interiors to
virtual reality, streaming and cryptocurrency ticketing, these 30 “firsts” show
how cinema keeps reinventing itself. Each experiment, whether artistic or
technological, helped push movies into a new era—and they’re exactly the kind
of milestones that make film history such a rich playground for awards,
analysis and fandom.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
📢 Subscribe to Cinema
Awards Archive
If this breakdown of why these Indian movies were banned
gave you a new perspective on censorship and controversy, consider supporting
Cinema Awards Archive.
Subscribe to the blog for more deep‑dive stories on films
that pushed boundaries, the politics behind bans and cuts, and the true stories
that shape Indian and world cinema. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Cinema
Awards Archive YouTube channel for video essays, rankings and explainers that
connect film history, awards and censorship in one place.
