Sound film
The primary steps in the commercialization of sound cinema were taken in the mid- to late 1920s. At first, the sound films which included synchronized dialogue, known as "talking pictures", or "talkies", were exclusively shorts. The earliest feature-length movies with recorded sound included only music and effects. The first feature film originally presented as a talkie was "The Jazz Singer", released in October 1927. A major hit, it was made with Vitaphone, which was at the time the leading brand of sound-on-disc technology. Sound-on-film, however, would soon become the standard for talking pictures.
Stereophonic sound
Motion picture theatres, however, are where the real introduction of stereophonic sound to the public occurred. Amid great fanfare, Stereo sound was officially proven commercially viable for the public on September 30, 1952 with the release of a Cinerama demonstration film by Lowell Thomas and Mike Todd titled "This is Cinerama". The format was a spectacular widescreen process featuring three separate 35mm motion picture films (plus a separate sound film) running in synchronization with one another at 26 fps, adding one picture panel each to the viewer's left and right at 45 degree angles, in addition to the usual front and center panel, creating a truly immersive panoramic visual experience, comparable in some ways to today's curved screen IMAX OMNI.