Beyond such architectural masterpieces as the Guarantee Building and the Darwin Martin House, the number of early Twentieth Century Movie Theaters that still stand in Western New York is unique in the world. These include The Michigan (1910), The Savoy (1911), and The Sattler (1914, on the foundation of a 1900 theater). Although in need of restoration, the theaters – once attended by Mary Talbert of NAACP fame – still glow with beautiful terra cotta decorations. Buffalo is truly unique in having preserved a fabulous "Time Machine" peek into the past.

Mitchell Mark, the genius who foresaw the rise of the movies and constructed the quintessential theaters in which to view them, opened Vitascope Theater as part of his Edisonia Hall in the basement of the Ellicott Square Building barely six months after Thomas Edison premiered the Vitascope Projector in April, 1896. It was the world’s first purpose-built motion picture theatre.

Mark was responsible for bringing Marcus Loew (of Loew's Theaters), Adolph Zukor (co-founder of Paramount Pictures), and Roxy (the flamboyant movie theater showman of Broadway) into the motion picture business. Mark was also, apparently, the first individual to distribute Lumiere / Pathe films in the United States circa 1895. This may mean that the first film show at the Vitascope Hall was one of the premieres of the Lumiere Brothers' films in America. 

Another local treasure is The Regent Theater (1914) at Main and Utica. Now Bethesda World Harvest International Church, this beautifully remodeled building still preserves many of the architectural features of the original movie house. It was used by Buffalo's American Optical Company to test the revolutionary 30 frame per second 70mm TODD-AO camera/projection system commissioned by mogul Mike Todd for his movie Around the World in 80 Days, starring David Niven and Frank Sinatra. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were flown to Buffalo in 1953 to see a demonstration, which influenced them to give their permission to make Oklahoma into a film using TODD-AO. 

Buffalo was also an important Motion Picture Exchange from the turn of the Twentieth Century through the 1960s. Film Exchanges handled and shipped the 35mm prints of all the newest motion pictures and made sure that theaters from Syracuse to Cleveland, and from Erie to Toronto, had them on time and in perfect condition for each evening's programming.

Pathe, Vitascope, Warner Brothers, MGM, Paramount and Universal all had offices in Buffalo along Franklin and Pearl Streets starting as early as 1906. Nearly a dozen of them still standing, although now used for other purposes. The Warner Brothers' building on Franklin is now a restaurant.