We propose to inquire an aspect of Mexican cinema that had very little diffusion in the historiography of the cinema of that country: the activities of Mexican entrepreneur José U. Calderón and his connections with United States in pursuit of experiments that marked the beginning of sound cinema, that included the expansion of national cinemas inside and outside through film distribution and exhibition. For that purpose, we will develop different aspects that Calderón achieved resulting in an expansion of Mexican cinema into the transnational, as technical experimentation, the foundation of distribution, exhibition and production enterprises, the recruiting of artists and the uses of genres as musical and melodrama. Those aspects will be worked taking into account the commercial and aesthetic-narrative exchanges made between Mexico and United States during that period. Keywords: Calderón, transnational, sound cinema, Mexico, United States.