Editing Pathé (section)

=== Pathé films ===
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 name '''Compagnie Générale des Établissements Pathé Frères Phonographes & Cinématographes''' (sometimes abbreviated as '''CGPC''') in 1897, and its shares were listed on the [[Paris Stock Exchange]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.victorian-cinema.net/pathe|title=Who's Who of Victorian Cinema|website=www.victorian-cinema.net|access-date=18 June 2020|archive-date=29 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629092110/https://www.victorian-cinema.net/pathe|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1896, [[Mitchell Mark]] of [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[New York (state)|New York]], became the first American to import Pathé films to the United States, where they were shown in the Vitascope Theater.<ref>Abel 1999, pp. 23–24.</ref>

In 1907, Pathé acquired the [[Auguste and Louis Lumière|Lumière 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 at [[Vincennes]], 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.<ref name="Abel 1999, p. 25">Abel 1999, p. 25.</ref>

By 1909, Pathé had built more than 200 cinemas in France and Belgium and by the following year they had facilities in [[Madrid]], [[Moscow]], [[Rome]] and [[New York City]] plus Australia and Japan. Slightly later, they opened a film exchange in [[Buffalo, New York]].<ref name="Abel 1999, p. 25"/> Through its [[Pathé Exchange|American subsidiary]], it was part of the [[Motion Picture Patents Company|MPPC]] cartel of production in the United States. It participated in the [[Paris 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arcades|work=Cinema Treasures|url=https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/34353|accessdate=1 December 2023}}</ref>

Prior to the outbreak of [[World War I]], Pathé dominated Europe's market in motion picture cameras and projectors. It has been estimated<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.electrolux.co.uk/innovation/campaigns/temp-cannes/le-menu-de-cannes/articles/how-to-get-the-cannes1/|title=Film and Electrolux through the ages|publisher=[[Electrolux]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201163940/http://www.electrolux.co.uk/Innovation/Campaigns/Temp-Cannes/Le-menu-de-Cannes/Articles/How-to-get-the-Cannes1/|archive-date=1 February 2014|access-date=13 January 2013}}</ref> that at one time, 60 percent of all films were shot with Pathé equipment. In 1908, Pathé distributed ''[[Excursion to the Moon]]'' by Segundo de Chomón, an imitation of [[Georges Méliès]]'s ''[[A Trip to the Moon]]''. Pathé and Méliès worked together in 1911.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harison |first=Casey |title=Paris in Modern Times: From the Old Regime to the Present Day |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-350-00553-2 |location=London |pages=208 |language=en}}</ref> Méliès made a film ''[[Baron 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.<ref>Abel 1999, p. 26.</ref> 

After World War I, Charles Pathé started divesting himself from various film interests, believing that the French film industry would never recover after 1918.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Richard Lewis |title=A History of the Hal Roach Studios |publisher=SIU Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-8093-2637-X |location=Carbondale |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />