Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont is a cinema chain owned by Pathé, with operations in France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Tunisia. The company is market leader in each country, with the exception of Belgium and Tunisia.[1]
Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont was formed in 2001 when the French film production and distribution companies Pathé 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. During the first years of operation the company was called Europalaces, but it was later changed to Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé. On 1 March 2017, it was announced that Gaumont sold its 34% stake in Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé to Pathé for €380 million,[2] 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.
The 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.
Until 2010 the company operated several cinemas in Italy, but these locations were closed due to difficulties in the Italian market.
In 2018 Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont entered the African market by opening a cinema In Tunis, Tunisia, with plans in progress to open locations in Ivory Coast, Morocco and Senegal.
Technologies[]
The company uses different technologies in their operations, like IMAX. 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.[3]
In 2017 they partnered with the Korean company CJ 4DPlex to open the first 4DX location in France. During the Cannes Film Festival, 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.[4]
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 in June 2018.[5] Additionally, it has installed the first 4DX Screen theater, a combination of 4DX and ScreenX, outside the Asian region in Paris.[6]
Cinemas[]
A list of all current and future (green) theaters operated by Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont.
This location is postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Pathé and the city of Amstelveen stated that they want to focus on other things for the time being.
Acquired from Verenigde Nederlandse Bioscopen in 2017. These cinemas are set to close when the new location in Leeuwarden opens in Q3 2021.
Tivoli Leeuwarden
4
910
Pathé Leeuwarden
7
634
Opening in Q3 2021. The construction was suspended in 2018, due to rising costs. In May 2019, the construction continued with a simpler design. The theater is equipped with only recliner seats.
Postponed in 2021 due to a change in the investment strategy by Pathé.[7] Initially to be opened as Euroscoop, but Pathé announced on 18-6-2020 that they will discontinue the Euroscoop brand in The Netherlands in favor of Pathé.