Pathé Cinémas SASU is a cinema chain owned by

Pathé Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

, with operations in France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Morocco, and

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. The company is market leader in the former three. Pathé is Europe's second largest cinema chain.

History

EuroPalaces was formed in 2001 when the French film production and distribution companies

and Gaumont merged their cinema operations, respectively owned by Jérôme Seydoux and Nicolas Seydoux. Gaumont owned 34% and Pathé owned 66% of the shares in the joint venture. In 2010, EuroPalaces was renamed Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé. On March 1, 2017, it was announced that Gaumont sold its 34% stake in Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé to Pathé for €380 million, Gaumont wanted to focus more on the production and distribution of content. The name of the company changed shortly thereafter to Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont, then to Pathé Cinémas in 2023 when Pathé removed the Gaumont brand from its cinemas. Europalaces logo

The company grew its circuit with several acquisitions throughout the years, notable acquisitions were ''MGM Cinemas'' in 1995, ''Minerva Cinemas'' in 2010 in The Netherlands; ''CinePointCom'' in 2015 in Belgium; ''EuropaCorp Cinemas'' in 2016, ''CineAlpes'' in 2019 in France and ''Euroscoop Cinemas'' in 2019 in The Netherlands and Belgium. The majority of the acquired cinemas were - or are in the process of being - converted to the Pathé brand. In 2021 Pathé decided to sell three of its recent acquired CineAlpes cinemas to CinéWest. Until 2010 the company operated several cinemas in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, but these locations were sold to due to difficulties in the Italian market. In 2018, Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont entered the African market by opening a cinema In

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

, with plans in progress to open locations in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. On October 28, 2021, Pathé Tuschinski - during its centennial - received the ''Royal Predicate'' from the Dutch monarch, changing its name to Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski (Royal Theater Tuschinski). In 2022, the group entered the Moroccan market by opening a cinema in Californie Mall,

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

. Pathé Cinémas says it wants affordable cinemas, not luxury ones.

Technologies

The company uses different technologies in their operations, like

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

. The IMAX Corporation stated that it will strengthen its relationship with Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont. They will do that by expanding the total number of locations and also by upgrading existing locations to IMAX Laser with IMAX's 12-channel sound technology. The expanding and upgrading will start in 2018 and all locations will be upgraded by 2023, making Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont the first multi-territory network to be fully powered by IMAX Laser. The company also partnered with

Dolby Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Dolby Labs or simply Dolby) is a British-American technology corporation specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and high-dynamic-range television (HDR) imaging. Dolby li ...

using their

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels as well as free-moving sound objects, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horiz ...

and

Dolby Cinema Dolby Cinema is a type of premium large format movie theater created by Dolby Laboratories that combines Dolby proprietary technologies such as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, as well as other signature entrance and intrinsic design features. Th ...

products. In 2017 they partnered with the

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

n company CJ 4DPlex to open the first 4DX location in France. During the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

, it was announced that Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont will open 30 4DX cinemas throughout France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium before 2020. On 22 December 2017 CJ 4DPlex announced in a press release that they have extended their agreement by adding an additional 20 locations, bringing the total to 50. With the opening of the 500th 4DX location worldwide at Pathé Belle Épine in April 2018, the company announced that they extended their partnership with CJ 4DPlex once with the opening of two ScreenX auditoriums in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in June 2018. Additionally, it has installed the first 4DX Screen theater, a combination of 4DX and ScreenX, outside the Asian region in Paris. In 2023, Pathé Cinemas acquires exclusive rights for IMAX in Morocco, previously accorded to the Moroccan-owned IMAX cinema in Morocco Mall.

Cinemas

A list of all current and future ''(blue)'' theaters operated by Pathé Cinémas.

References

External links

Pathé in France

Pathé in Senegal

Pathé in Tunisia

Pathé in Belgium

Pathé in Switzerland

Pathé in The Netherlands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pathé Cinémas Gaumont (company) Cinemas and movie theaters chains 2001 establishments in France Entertainment companies established in 2001 Cinema chains in France Cinema chains in Belgium Former joint ventures