This work analyzes the irruption of American cinema in Chile during the 1910s and 1920s with regard to its role in the formation of a market empire. Hollywood cinema became an irresistible commodity that all Chileans valued irregardless of their social position. its social and cultural impact was enormous and turned the United States into a new paradigm of modernity. The consumption of movies, fashions, and manufactured products from the United States was regarded as a way to participate in this "American-style" modernity. This reinforced the market imperialism that the United States was forging during those decades.