At the Heart
of Cinema

1894

Charles Pathé opens a first shop dedicated to the sale of phonographs in Paris.

1896

Charles and Émile Pathé found Pathé Frères, a company specialising in the sale of phonographs and film equipment.

1898

Pathé becomes an industry and builds a first factory in Chatou for the production of phonographs. The company chooses the cockerel as its emblem.

1901

Ferdinand Zecca launches the film production service and creates Pathé's first studio.

1902

Pathé develops the production of films in Vincennes, the historic site for its cinema business. From then until 1924, four studios are opened. Pathé produces and distributes more than 10,000 silent films.

1904

Pathé opens its first two branches, in Russia and in the United States. More than 40 branches or companies would be opened throughout the world prior to 1914. Pathé is one of the main European multinationals.

1906

Pathé opens the Joinville-le-Pont factory, where up to 80,000 metres per day of film would be printed for the global market. The factory employs 450 workers.

1907

Pathé launches the rental of copies which replaces the sale of films and lays the foundations for the distribution system. The company builds up a portfolio of movie theatres in France.

1909

Creation of Pathé-Journal, "the first newsreel in the universe", shown before each movie programme. That same year, Pathé moves into the manufacturing of the film medium.

1910

Pathé creates several series, by dedicating several comic films to the same character. Cinema-goers regularly return to find the misdeeds of Boireau, Max, Léontine, Rosalie, Rigadin… Their popularity makes some actors into the first movie stars.

1914

Pathé creates films organised into episodes with the American serial, The Perils of Pauline.

1922

Launch of the Pathé-Baby, "cinema at home", making film projection and shooting available to a wider population. Using the 9.5 mm format, it dominates the amateur movie market for more than 35 years.

1927

Creation of Kodak-Pathé which takes up the film manufacturing activity of the Vincennes factory.

1929-1936

Under the management of Bernard Natan, Pathé produces more than 60 feature films and has nine film sets.

1940-1945

Pathé returns to film production and shoots 23 films. Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) by Marcel Carné is released to cinemas with the Liberation of France.

1946-1962

Pathé produces 85% of its films with foreign companies and obtains two Palmes d'Or with La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini (1960) and The Leopard by Luchino Visconti (1963).

1956-1963

Pathé opens the Wepler and restructures its historic theatres such as the Marignan.

1960-1970

GIE Pathé-Gaumont programmes more than 700 screens in France. Pathé also invests in the production of films for television.

1963

The Marignan-Concorde on the Champs-Elysées is the first cinema complex, and Pathé's flagship cinema.

1990

The Chargeurs group, led by Jérôme Seydoux, acquires Pathé. This is also the creation of the first European satellite package, BSkyB, alongside Rupert Murdoch.

1993

Opening of the Toulon Grand-Ciel, first cinema multiplex in France.

1994-1995

Presentation of the centenary exhibition "Pathé, Premier Empire du Cinéma" ("Pathé, First Cinema Empire") at the Georges Pompidou centre.

1998

Pathé asks Margaret Youngblood (Landor Associates) to propose a new visual identity for the company. Based on values of independence, innovation and integrity, Pathé's new identity comprises the Charlie cockerel and a graphical charter conferring a dynamic and modern band image, fitting with the company's new boom.

2001

27 June 2001: grouping of the movie theatre operating businesses of Gaumont and Pathé under the name EuroPalaces. The company thus becomes the French leader for the operation of movie theatres.
It is 66%-held by Pathé and 34%-held by Gaumont, and combines 86 cinemas with a total of 742 screens in France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy.

2002

The portfolio of movie theatres grows with three openings in France, two in Italy and one in the Netherlands.
The network of movie theatres wins CinemaExpo's Operator of the Year prize.

2005

The Pathé Unlimited Card, a cinema subscription card in the Netherlands, is launched.
In France, EuroPalaces wins the Trophy of Best Operator of the year at the Pathé Plan de Campagne, awarded by Le Film Français.

2007

Opening of the Vis Pathé cinema at Rome Lunghezza in Italy.
In France, the network acquires three new cinemas and the cinema subscription card, "Le Pass", is rolled out nationally.

2008

The portfolio of movie theatres grows with three openings in France, one in the Netherlands and one in Switzerland.
In France, the network acquires CielEcran, a company specialising in the live transmission of grand cultural events in cinemas, which later becomes Pathé Live. The first transmissions of operas by the New York Metropolitan Opera take place in France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

2009

EuroPalaces becomes Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé.
In France, the Trophy of Operator of the year 2009 is awarded to the Gaumont Grand Quevilly and Pathé Docks 76 (Rouen) cinemas by Le Film Français. This period also corresponds to the launch of the loyalty card and the progressive rollout of digital equipment in cinemas.

2010

Pathé opens two new cinemas in the Netherlands and acquires four cinemas in the Rytmann circuit in France, and nine cinemas from the Minerva network in the Netherlands.
Pathé also wins the Operator of the Year Prize in the Netherlands, awarded by Cinema Expo International.

2011

Pathé opens a new cinema in Amsterdam and, in France, launches the internet reservation service with the "e-billet" dematerialised ticket.

2013

Cinémas Pathé Gaumont opens the Pathé Beaugrenelle cinema in Paris, first next-generation multiplex adopting the new standards developed in all of the network's cinemas: digital projection (2K or 4K / 7.1 or Dolby AtmosTM sound) and a new design dreamt up by Ora-ïto for Pathé cinemas.

2015

The portfolio of movie theatres grows with two openings in France (including the Gaumont Les Fauvettes cinema), two theatres in the Netherlands and the acquisition of five cinemas in Belgium from Cinépointcom, including two cinema multiplexes in Charleroi and Verviers.

2017

Pathé acquires the 34% capital stake held by Gaumont in Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé which become Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont. This is also a year of great innovation with the opening in France of the first Dolby Cinema theatre (Pathé Massy, Ile-de-France) and the first 4DX theatre at Pathé La Villette in Paris.

2018

Pathé opens the first multiplex in Africa, in Tunis, and takes over the operation of La Géode, an emblematic Parisian cinema which closed at the end of 2018 for substantial works before reopening.

2019

Pathé inaugurates the EuropaCorp La Joliette cinema in Marseille, a BREEAM-certified building (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) and the Pathé Spreitenbach cinema in Switzerland. The network also acquires the CinéAlpes circuits with 13 cinemas in France and EuroScoop which has six cinemas in Belgium and three in the Netherlands.