Pathé and Vendôme Launch Emotion Pictures to Produce English-Language Movies

Pathé and its holding Merit France have partnered with Vendôme Pictures to launch a new production and finance company.

Called Emotion Pictures, the banner will specialize in commercial, English-language films. It will develop, acquire, fully finance and produce a slate of films that will be released theatrically by Pathé in France, Switzerland and Benelux.

Philippe Rousselet‘s Vendôme and Jérôme Seydoux’s Pathé have been successfully collaborating for many years, for instance on the Oscar-winning family movie “CODA,” and more recently on Morten Tyldum’s “Ibelin,” which began principal photography in Oslo this month with a cast featuring Charlie Plummer, Stephen Graham, Toni Collette, Isabela Merced, Maisy Stella and Bill Nighy.

Related Stories

Taika Waititi, Kit Connor Lead Voice Cast of Netflix's ‘Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory’ Animated Feature

Netflix Prevails in 'Tiger King' Copyright Case, a Win for 'Fair Use' in Documentaries

“Emotion Pictures reflects the long and successful relationship between Pathé and Jérôme Seydoux, alongside Rodolphe Saadé and Merit. We truly share a passion for stories and cinema,” said Philippe Rousselet, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Vendôme Pictures. “Emotion Pictures will be the home for filmmakers to tell original, commercial, and universally resonant stories. Films the studios used to make in the 80s and 90s, which audiences around the world are craving, and that have become far too rare today,” Rousselet continued.

Ardavan Safaee, Pathé president, said that “Vendôme and Philippe Rousselet have been exceptional partners.” “Our work together, from ‘CODA’ to ‘Ibelin,’ speaks to what becomes possible when shared values meet shared ambition.”

“Together with Vendôme and Merit France, we will back original, character‑driven films made for the big screen — stories that deliver ambition, craft and emotion at a global scale. Films that make hearts beat,” Safaee added.

Vendôme’s slate includes “Lords of War,” starring Nicolas Cage and Bill Skarsgård, and directed by Andrew Niccol; as well as Oren Moverman’s “The Man With the Miraculous Hands,” starring Woody Harrelson, and “Ibelin.”

Pathé will be at Cannes with several films, including Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown,” starring Lea Seydoux, in competition, and Antonin Baudry’s epic “De Gaulle” out-of-competition. The venerable French studio welcomed Merit France, a holding owned by shipping billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, last year as its new shareholder with a 20% stake.