Gaumont Pictures founded by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont.
In France, brothers named Auguste and Louis Lumière, designed and built a lightweight, hand-held motion picture camera called the Cinématographe. The Lumière brothers discovered that their machine could also be used to project images onto a large screen. The Lumière brothers created several short films at this time that are considered to be pivotal in the history of motion pictures.
September or October - C. Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat demonstrate their Phantoscope, a motion picture projector, in Atlanta, Georgia.
November - In Germany, Emil and Max Skladanowsky develop their own film projector.
December 28 - The Lumiere brothers have their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe Boulevard des Capucines -- this date is sometimes considered the debut of the motion picture as an entertainment medium.