Feature film
A
feature film is a term the
film industry uses to refer to a
film made for initial
distribution in
theaters.
The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the
American Film Institute, and the
British Film Institute all define a feature as a film with a running time of forty minutes or longer, although most features today run over ninety minutes.
The term evolved from the days when the cinema-goer would watch a series of
short subjects before the main film. The shorts would typically include
newsreels,
serials,
animated cartoons and live-action comedies and documentaries. These types of short films would lead up to what came to be called the "featured presentation": the film given the most prominent billing and running multiple
reels.
Based on length, the first feature film was the
1906 release The Story of the Kelly Gang. The first European feature was
L'Enfant prodigue (1907), although that was basically an unmodified record of a stage play; Europe's first feature adapted for the screen,
Les Misérables, came in 1909. The first American feature was
Oliver Twist (1912). Earlier features had been produced in America, but were released in separate one-reel parts, leaving the exhibitor the option of running them together; or they were full-length records of a boxing match.
By 1915 over 600 features were produced annually in America. The best year of U.S. feature production was
1921, with 854 releases; the worst was 1963, with 121 releases. Between 1922 and 1970, the U.S. and
Japan alternated as leaders in feature production. Since 1971, the country with the highest feature output has been
India.
