 Logo used since 1999 | |
| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | 28 September 1896; 129 years ago (1896-09-28) |
| Founder | Charles Pathé Émile Pathé Théophile Pathé Jacques Pathé |
| Headquarters | 2 Rue Lamennais 75008, Paris ,France |
Area served | France Switzerland |
Key people | Jérôme Seydoux (chairman) Eduardo Malone (vice president) |
| Revenue |  €903 million (2017)[1] |
| Owner | Jérôme Seydoux Eduardo Malone CMA CGM (20%) |
Number of employees | 4,210 (2017)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | Pathé Films Pathé Séries Pathé Cinémas Fondation Pathé Vendôme Production Pricel |
| Website | pathe.com |
Pathé SAS[2] (French:[pate]; styled asPATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiaryPathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe.Pathé is the second-oldest operating film company, behindGaumont, which was established in 1895.
It is the name of a network of French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest film equipment and production company, as well as a major producer ofphonograph records. In 1908, Pathé invented thenewsreel that was shown in cinemas before a feature film.[3]
SinceGaumont studio sold its cinemas toPathé in 2017,Pathé Cinéma has become the oldest cinema circuit in the world[4][5]and is currently the biggest circuit in France andHolland.[6]
Pathé is also still one of the biggest production companies in France and Europe today, regularly producing films with budgets around $50 million. For example, in 2024, the historic group has released the successfulThe Count of Monte Cristo.[7]
The company was founded asSociété Pathé Frères (French:[patefʁɛʁ]; "Pathé Brothers Company") in Paris, France on 28 September 1896, by the four brothersCharles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé.[8] During the first part of the 20th century, Pathé became the largest film equipment and production company in the world,[9] as well as a major producer ofphonograph records.
At its peak,Charles Pathé's company had almost 50% of the world film market, including in the United States.[10][11]
The driving force behind the film operation and phonograph business wasCharles Pathé, who had helped open aphonograph shop in 1894 and established a phonograph factory atChatou on the western outskirts of Paris. The Pathé brothers began selling Edison and Columbia phonographs and accompanyingcylinder records and later, the brothers designed and sold their own phonographs that incorporated elements of other brands.[12] Soon after, they also started marketing pre-recorded cylinder records. By 1896 the Pathé brothers had offices and recording studios not only in Paris, but also in London,Milan, andSt. Petersburg. Pathé manufactured cylinder records until approximately 1914. In 1905,[13] the Pathé brothers entered the growing field ofdisc records.[14]
In France, Pathé became the largest and most successful distributor of cylinder records and phonographs. These, however, failed to make headway in foreign markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States where other brands were already in widespread use.[15]
In December 1928, the French and British Pathé phonograph assets were sold to the BritishColumbia Graphophone Company. In July 1929, the assets of the American Pathé record company were merged into the newly formedAmerican Record Corporation.[13]
The Pathé and Pathé-Marconi labels and catalogue still survive, first as imprints ofEMI and now currently EMI's successorParlophone Records. In 1967EMI Italiana took control of the entire catalog. In turn, theUniversal Music Group acquired EMI Italiana in 2013.
As the phonograph business became successful, Pathé saw the opportunities offered by new means of entertainment and in particular by the fledgling motion picture industry. Having decided to expand the record business to include film equipment, the company expanded dramatically. To finance its growth, the company took the nameCompagnie Générale des Établissements Pathé Frères Phonographes & Cinématographes (sometimes abbreviated asCGPC) in 1897, and its shares were listed on theParis Stock Exchange.[16] In 1896,Mitchell Mark ofBuffalo, New York, became the first American to import Pathé films to the United States, where they were shown in the Vitascope Theater.[17]
In 1901,Ferdinand Zecca andCharles Pathé decided to capitalize on the public's morbid penchant for gory crime stories by creatingHistoire d'un crime, which is considered the first realistic drama in the history of cinema. Histoire d'un crime e also invented the firstflashback in the cinema. The final scene, which shows a beheading, caused a scandal. The film was a notable success, launching a wave of similar films.[18][19]
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In 1906,Charles Pathé opened one of the first permanent movie theater with the Omnia-Pathé (as cinema had until then been aFairground Attraction), which also became the oldest cinema of the Pathé group. By the following year, more than 300 Pathé theaters already existed, and the network was rapidly expanding in the rest of the world. As with production and distribution, the French company established itself as the world leader in movie theaters for several years. Today,Pathé Cinemas remains the leading theater operator in France and theNetherlands, and the oldest still in operation worldwide.[20][21][22][23]
In 1907, Pathé acquired theLumière brothers' patents and then set about to design an improved studio camera and to make their own film stock. Their technologically advanced equipment, new processing facilities built atVincennes, and aggressive merchandising combined with efficient distribution systems allowed them to capture a huge share of the international market. They first expanded to London in 1902 where they set up production facilities and a chain of cinemas.[24]
By 1909, Pathé had built more than 200 cinemas in France and Belgium and by the following year they had facilities inMadrid, Moscow,Rome and New York City plus Australia and Japan. Slightly later, they opened a film exchange inBuffalo, New York.[24] Through itsAmerican subsidiary, it was part of theMPPC cartel of production in the United States. It participated in theParis Film Congress in February 1909 as part of a plan to create a similar European organisation. The company withdrew from the project in a second meeting in April which fatally undermined the proposal. In 1906, Pathé Frères had pioneered the luxury cinema with the opening of the Omnia Cinéma-Pathé in Paris.[25]
Prior to the outbreak ofWorld War I, Pathé dominated Europe's market in motion picture cameras and projectors. It has been estimated that at one time, 60 percent of all films were shot with Pathé equipment.[26] In 1908, Pathé distributedExcursion to the Moon by Segundo de Chomón, an imitation ofGeorges Méliès'sA Trip to the Moon. Pathé and Méliès worked together in 1911.[27] Méliès made a filmBaron Munchausen's Dream, his first film to be distributed by Pathé. Pathé's relationship with Méliès soured, and after he went bankrupt in 1913, his last film was never released by Pathé.[28]
After World War I, Charles Pathé started divesting himself from various film interests, believing that the French film industry would never recover after 1918.[29] The company's subsequent decline relegated Pathé primarily as a distributor of short subjects and it became a minor player in the mainstream film industry.[29]
In 1929,Charles Pathé retired from cinema and entrusted the management of the company toBernard Natan. Bernard Natan partially revived Pathé, which once again became the leading player inFrench cinema. He relaunched film production, notably withLes Misérables (1934), and expanded thePathé Cinema network in France, including the construction of the Pathé Bellecour inLyon, which remains in operation under the Pathé group today.
Deported toAuschwitz during theSecond World War as he was Jewish,Bernard Natan was murdered by theNazi regime in 1942. Despite severe weakening, Pathé survived and gradually resumed its activities towards the end of the Second World War, most notably with the release ofChildren of Paradise (1945).[30][31][32]
In 2024, Pathé Films releasedThe Count of Monte Cristo.[33] The film exceeded all expectations and quickly became the biggest success for a Pathé film sinceBienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis (2008).[34]Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis remains the second highest-grossingFrench box office, ahead for example ofAvatar.[35]
Worldwide, the company emphasised research, investing in such experiments the synchronisation of film and gramophone recordings. In 1908, Pathé invented thenewsreel that was shown in theatres prior to the feature film. The news clips featured the Pathé logo of a crowing rooster at the beginning of each reel.In 1912, it introduced28 mm non-flammable film and equipment under the brand name Pathescope.Pathé News produced cinema newsreels from 1910, up until the 1970s when production ceased as a result of mass television ownership.[36]
In 1907, the Pathé group decided to abandon the outright sale of film prints and instead establish a novel rental system for cinema operators. This measure, motivated by the market's profitability crisis and the saturation caused by the resale of worn-out prints, marked a decisive break in the film industry: for the first time, a producer-distributor retained ownership of the prints and rented them to cinemas, ensuring the quality of screenings and regular revenue[37]. This innovation, initiated byCharles Pathé, laid the foundations for the modern film distribution model, still based today on the rental of films[38].
In the United States, beginning in 1914, the company built film production studios inFort Lee and Jersey City, New Jersey, where their building still stands.The Heights, Jersey City produced the extremely successful serialised episodes calledThe Perils of Pauline. By 1918 Pathé had grown to the point where it was necessary to separate operations into two distinct divisions. With Emile Pathé as chief executive,Pathé Records dealt exclusively with phonographs and recordings. Brother Charles managedPathé-Cinéma, which was responsible for film production, distribution, and exhibition.[39]
In 1922 they introduced thePathé Baby home film system using a new9.5 mm film stock, which became popular during the next few decades. In 1921, Pathé sold off its United States motion picture production arm. It was renamed "Pathé Exchange" and later merged intoRKO Pictures, disappearing as an independent brand in 1931. Pathé sold its British film studios toEastman Kodak in 1927, while maintaining the theatre and distribution arm.[39]
Pathé was already in substantial financial trouble whenBernard Natan took control of the company in 1929. Studio founderCharles Pathé had been selling assets for several years to boost investor value and keep the studio's cash flow healthy. The company's founder had even sold Pathé's name and "rooster" trademark to other companies in return for a mere two percent of revenue. Natan had the bad luck to take charge of the studio just as theGreat Depression convulsed the French economy.[40][41]
Natan attempted to steady Pathé's finances and implement modern film industry practices at the studio. He acquired another film studio,Société des Cinéromans, fromArthur Bernède andGaston Leroux, which let Pathé expand into projector and electronics manufacturing. He also bought the Fornier chain of motion picture theatres and rapidly expanded the chain's nationwide presence.[40][41][42] The French press, however, attacked Natan mercilessly for his stewardship of Pathé. Many of these attacks wereantisemitic.[43]
Pathé-Natan did well under Natan's guidance. Between 1930 and 1935, despite the world economic crisis, the company made 100 millionfrancs in profits, and produced and released more than 60 feature films (just as many films as major American studios produced at the time). He resumed production of the newsreelPathé News, which had not been produced since 1927.[40]
Natan also invested heavily into research and development to expand Pathé's film business. In 1929, he pushed Pathé intosound film. In September, the studio produced its first sound feature film, and its first sound newsreel a month later. Natan also launched two new cinema-related magazines,Pathé-Revue andActualités Féminines, to help market Pathé's films and build consumer demand for cinema. Under Natan, Pathé also funded the research ofHenri Chrétien, who developed theanamorphic lens (leading to the creation ofCinemaScope and otherwidescreen film formats common today).[41][42]
Natan expanded Pathé's business interests into communications industries other than film. In November 1929, Natan established France's first television company,Télévision-Baird-Natan. A year later, he purchased a radio station in Paris and formed a holding company (Radio-Natan-Vitus) to run what would become a burgeoning radio empire.[40][41][42]
To finance the company's continued expansion, Pathé's board of directors (which still included Charles Pathé) had voted in 1930 to issue shares worth 105 million francs. Then theGreat Depression hit France in 1931, and only 50 percent of the shares were purchased. One of the investor banks collapsed due to financial difficulties unrelated to Pathé's problems, and Pathé was forced to follow through with the purchase of several cinema chains it no longer could afford to buy. Although the company continued to make a profit, it lost more money thanks to these acquisitions than it could bring in.[41][42] In 1935, a commercial court began examining Pathé's accounts, and by 1936 it was declared bankrupt and Natan was dismissed.[44] The studios were not doing badly and continued to make films,[44] but his companies went into receivership and were claimed by the state.
French authorities pursued charges of fraud against Natan, including financing the purchase of the company without any collateral, of bilking investors by establishing fictitiousshell corporations, and financial mismanagement. He was also accused of hiding his Romanian and Jewish heritage by changing his name. In 1938, Natan was arrested and imprisoned, never to regain his freedom. In 1939 he was indicted and sentenced to four years in jail.[44] As a result, he was in prison when France fell to the Nazis, a time when other Jewish filmmakers fled or went into hiding. On his release from prison in 1942, he was delivered to the Nazis, and by September 1942 had been deported toAuschwitz, where he was murdered.[40][41][42][45]
In 1943, the company was forced to undergo a restructuring, and was acquired by Adrien Ramauge, changing its name to Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinema.[46] Over the years, the business underwent a number of changes including diversification into producing programmes for the burgeoning television industry. During the 1970s, operating theatres overtook film production as Pathé's primary source of revenue.
In the late 1980s, Italian financierGiancarlo Parretti tried to make a bid for Pathé, even taking overCannon and renaming itPathé Communications in anticipation of owning the storied studio. Parretti's shady past, however, raised enough eyebrows in the French government that the deal fell through. It turned out to be a fortunate decision, as Parretti later took overMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and merged it with his Pathé Communications Group to createMGM-Pathé Communications in 1990, only to lose it in bankruptcy in late 1991.
In 1990Chargeurs, a French conglomerate led byJérôme Seydoux, took control of the company.[47] As a result of the deregulation of the French telecommunications market, in June 1999 Pathé merged withVivendi, with the exchange ratio for the merger fixed at three Vivendi shares for every two Pathé shares.The Wall Street Journal estimated the value of the deal at US$2.59 billion. Following the completion of the merger, Vivendi retained Pathé's interests inBritish Sky Broadcasting andCanalSatellite, a French broadcasting corporation,[48] but then sold all remaining assets to Jérôme Seydoux's family-owned corporation, Fornier SA, which changed its name to Pathé.
In 2008, Pathé released the filmBienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis, with over 20 million admissions in France, it is still today the biggest box office success in France, ahead of all American productions and other French movie, exceptTitanic (1997).[49]
In 2024, Pathé is the largest cinema chain in France, with 78 theaters and a 20% market share,[50] as well as the country's leading French producer and distributor in terms of box office admissions,[51] notably boosted by the big success of its French blockbusterThe Count of Monte Cristo, the movie having had 9 million admissions in France theaters and generated 100 million dollars worldwide.[52]
The group's headquarters are located in Paris, currently in the Pathé Palace, which is also one of the group's cinemas[53].
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A list of current and former assets of Pathé.[54]
In its home country France, Pathé self-distributes its films throughPathé Films, formerly calledAMLF (Agence méditerranéenne de location de films) from 1972 to 1998.[59][60][61]
In August 1992, Pathé's then-parent company Chargeurs purchasedGuild Entertainment from Wembley PLC, becoming Pathé's de facto UK distributor.[62] Initially,PolyGram Video distributed Guild's VHS releases until March 1995, when Chargeurs formed a UK rental joint-venture with20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, who became Guild/Pathé's home video distributor, the rental joint-venture would be namedFox Guild Home Entertainment.[63]
After the Chargeurs demerger in 1996,[64] Pathé began retiring the Guild brand, initially rebranding the theatrical arm asGuild Pathé Cinema and eventually in June 1997, asPathé Distribution after securing a deal to produce films in the country.[65] The home video division followed suit toward the end of the year, rebranding under the Pathé name, the video rental division Fox Guild Home Entertainment would be renamedFox Pathé Home Entertainment the following year. Despite this, Guild Home Video remained as an in-name-only dormant business of Pathé until folding on 17 December 2019.[66]
On 12 March 2009, Pathé announced that they would close their UK/Ireland theatrical distribution unit and form a new partnership withWarner Bros. Pictures to handle the theatrical distribution of their titles in the UK, following a handful of films thatflopped at the box office. The move was made so Pathé could focus more on the development and production of its own titles instead of acquisitions. The partnership would allow the two companies working together to identify co-production opportunities. Pathé would remain as an international sales agent for films, while 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment would remain as the distributor for home video.[67] Select film acquisitions that were planned to be distributed by Pathé, such asChatroom andDead Man Running, were sold toRevolver Entertainment.
On 1 February 2011, it was announced that20th Century Fox would take over as Pathé's theatrical distributor. Pathé UK's co-CEO Francois Ivernel deemed it easier for one company to handle the licensing process for both theatrical and home video.[68]
Withthe purchase of 20th Century Fox bythe Walt Disney Company on 20 March 2019,Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures took over distribution of Pathé's material, but would only release two films (those beingMisbehaviour andThe Human Voice),Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment would release the two films on home video. The longstanding deal with Fox/Disney deal expired on 30 June 2021, and Pathé decided not to renew. Pathé UK managing director Cameron McCracken was pleased with Disney's treatment of the company's films, deeming them to have given the films the same treatment that Fox did.[69]
On 7 June 2021, a few weeks before the expiration of the Fox deal, Pathé UK announced they would revert their distribution toWarner Bros. Pictures, with the first films being released under the new deal beingParallel Mothers andThe Duke. Unlike the 2009 deal, this new deal would also include home video and digital rights as well, which Fox/Disney previously handled.[70]
On 15 November 2023, Pathé UK announced that it would exit the UK theatrical market to focus a move into the premium television market. The exit was due to structural changes in the film industry following the impact of theCoronavirus pandemic, issues with the structure of independent distribution in the country (which led to their rival,Entertainment One UK closing their UK distribution arm in the middle of the year), some of their films flopping at the box office, and the retirement of Cameron McCracken.[71] Some time later,StudioCanal UK took over distribution of their material on home video through their Elevation Sales joint-venture withLionsgate UK.
In May 2025, Pathé UK announced a possible return to the UK theatrical market.[72]
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