EXCLUSIVE: French mini-major Pathé sent shockwaves through the UK cinema industry in 2023 when it emerged it was pulling out of film distribution and production in the country to focus uniquely on scripted TV series in the territory.
The move coincided with the retirement of long-time Pathé UK cinema-focused head Cameron McCracken and left Faith Penhale in charge as managing director of the re-focused TV development and production subsidiary.
The development of English-language projects was shifted over to the Pathé HQ in Paris.
The French studio’s retreat from UK cinema was regarded as the end of an era. Pathé UK had left its mark on the local and international cinema landscape, having supported titles such as Slumdog Mllionaire, The Queen, The Iron Lady, Philomena and The Great Escaper to name a few.
Two years later, Pathé President Ardavan Safaee has revealed that the company is mulling a return to film development and production in the UK sometime this year.
“I think we’re going to start up again in in UK, with Pathé UK. Today, the team there is focused mainly on series. We’re going to re-mobilise, to get back on track with English-language films there too,” Safaee told Deadline.
“We didn’t leave the UK because we didn’t like it. We left because our business model no longer worked on the films we were making. I think we were waiting to see how the market was doing over time, to see if there was anything new… Did it make sense to make films in English again? Was there a market for it?”
Admitting that the company had come to miss its connection with the UK film industry, Safaee suggested that after the difficult immediate post Covid-pandemic years, it again could make sense economically and creatively to develop and produce English-language films out of the UK.
“The market has changed a lot post-Covid. There are opportunities opening up, that are more significant because, even creatively, I find that films have recently taken over from series in terms of originality and creativity. And I see films today that are more original, that are taking a few more risks,” he said.
“If there are producers are who are willing to carry these projects, we will support them on our side at Pathé UK. I want to us to pick up where we left off. And starting from this year, reconnect with the producers and talent to start developing there again. We’re discussing it, and the idea is to have a team in place this year to start working on it.”
Safaee was talking to Deadline in a wider interview on the eve of Cannes, and prior to the announcement earlier this week that shipping and logistics tycoon Rodolphe Saadé was taking a 20% stake in Pathé.
The press release accompanying the announcement said that the investment would be used in particular for the production of internationally-oriented films and series, as well as the modernisation of its cinema network across Europe.
Safaee noted that the company’s desire to reconnect more closely with the UK film industry also fed into a geographically wider strategy to make English-language films.
“It’s goes beyond the UK. I think it’s more European than that, it’s more global. I also see that there is… may be a lack of original films in the United States and that casting talents, American actresses, actors, are also starting to work on films in Europe, because we can offer new things. So yes, I want there to be a team in England, but I want it to be a team that is not only focused on English films, but also European films in the English language,” he said.
Pathé, which enjoyed success at the box office in France last year with The Count Of Monte Cristo, is at the Cannes Film Festival this year with opening film Leave One Day, and well as Martin Bourboulon’s August 2021 Fall of Kabul-set action feature 13 Days, 13 Nights, which plays Out of Competition.
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