Pathé Distribution
Pathé's current logo
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| Industry | Entertainment |
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| Founded | 1896 |
| Website | www |
Pathé or Pathé Frères (French pronunciation: [pate fʁɛʁ], styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various 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 of phonograph records. In 1908, Pathé invented the newsreel that was shown in cinemas prior to a feature film.
Today, Pathé is a major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains and television networks across Europe. Its cinema holdings are mainly in France, including 66% of the Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé, a joint venture between Pathé and the Gaumont Film Company. It is the second oldest operating film company in the world, predating Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures, behind the French Gaumont Film Company studio.
The company was founded as Société Pathé Frères (Pathé Brothers Company) in Paris, France on 28 September 1896, by the four brothers Charles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé. During the first part of the 20th century, Pathé became the largest film equipment and production company in the world, as well as a major producer of phonograph records.
The driving force behind the film operation was Charles Pathé, who had helped open a gramophone shop in 1894 and established a phonograph factory at Chatou on the western outskirts of Paris. As these became successful, he 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 name Compagnie Générale des Établissements Pathé Frères Phonographes & Cinématographes (sometimes abbreviated as "C.G.P.C.") in 1897, and its shares were listed on the . In 1896, Mitchell Mark of Buffalo, New York, may have been the first American to import Pathé films to the United States, where they were shown in the Vitascope Theater.
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