According to Hopes and Fears, the first movie theater was put together not long after movies themselves came into existence. Max and Emil Skladanowsky, two German inventors, decided to bring their collection of films to The Berlin Wintergarten theater. The theater had played host to traditional shows featuring dancing and magicians, but when the Skladanowskys brought their films there, it effectively turned the Wintergarten Theatre into the first movie theater.
As theaters became a business, it was important to entice customers to return and shell out more nickels. Serialized films helped with this, and in 1912, the trailer appeared at the end of an installment of “The Adventures of Kathlyn.” The reel ended with the titular Kathlyn trapped in a lion’s den, when the words “Does she escape the lion’s pit? See next week’s thrilling chapter!” appeared on the screen. It’s an archaic version of today’s trailers, but it served the same purpose. (Spoiler alert: She escaped from the lions, says Chicagology.)
Nils Granlund, an advertising manager for Marcus Loew theaters, is credited with coming up with the first version of a trailer as they’re known today, back in 1913. Granlund took some rehearsal footage of a Broadway show and put it together in a short promotional package which was shown after — or trailing — the feature film (via the University of Michigan).
