ACADEMY AWARD®-WINNING BANNERS VENDÔME PICTURES AND PATHÉ, AND MERIT FRANCE, TO LAUNCH EMOTION PICTURES

New Finance and Production Banner Will Also Develop with a Focus on English-Language Commercial Films

LOS ANGELES / PARIS — May 05, 2026 —Pathé and Merit France have partnered with Vendôme Pictures, to launch a new production and finance company, Emotion Pictures. This marks a significant expansion of the companies’ global ambitions serving as a dedicated home for commercial, English-language feature films. Emotion Pictures will develop, acquire, fully finance and produce a slate of broadly appealing films. Pathé will release Emotion Pictures titles theatrically in France, Switzerland and Benelux.

The launch of Emotion Pictures deepens the successful and long-standing relationship between Philippe Rousselet’s Vendôme and Jérôme Seydoux’s Pathé – whose previous collaborations include the three-time Academy Award®–winning hit CODA and, most recently, Morten Tyldum’s Ibelin, which began principal photography in Oslo this month. Ibelin will star Charlie Plummer, Stephen Graham, Toni Collette, Isabela Merced, Maisy Stella, and Bill Nighy. The film, which is based on the real-life story of Mats Steen and his heroic alter ego ‘Ibelin’ in the World of Warcraft online game, embodies the editorial vision that will define the Emotion Pictures banner. Additional titles under the company are forthcoming.

“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.”

“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. Pathé has always championed audience‑first storytelling without compromising on excellence, and Emotion Pictures is the natural expression of that conviction. 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.” said Ardavan Safaee, President of Pathé Films.

About Vendôme Group

Multi Academy Award®-winning banner, Vendôme Group is one of the world’s leading independent production companies.  Founded in 2004, it has experienced explosive, exponential growth, which is today reflected in the sheer range and volume of the trailblazing projects both in its back catalog and on its current slate. Encompassing both Vendôme Films and Vendôme Pictures, the Group is led by founder, chairman and co-CEO Philippe Rousselet (PGA) who cut his teeth in the industry at studio giant Warner Bros in Los Angeles and co-CEO Fabrice Gianfermi.

With offices in Paris and Los Angeles, the company’s influence is truly international – developing, financing and producing visionary, ambitious and commercially successful content across multiple territories. Mining great stories and supporting great storytellers will continue to be the very essence of Vendôme, its pervading ethos and motivating force.

Vendôme made history as the first French production company to win three Academy Awards®, including Best Picture in 2022 with CODA, directed by Siân Heder, which marked the first film to win an Oscar for a streaming platform, Apple TV+. CODA is a remake of a French film called La Famille Bélier, which the company financed and co-produced in 2014 and won one César and was nominated for a further five.

Vendôme Pictures continues to trailblaze in the production of pioneering English language motion pictures with strong international appeal.  Upcoming projects include the Lord of War sequel, Lords of War starring Nicolas Cage and Bill Skarsgård and directed by Andrew Niccol; Academy Award® nominee Oren Moverman’s The Man With The Miraculous Hands starring Woody Harrelson; and Ibelin, directed by Academy Award® nominee Morten Tyldum. The company is in development on the Source Code television series with Lionsgate and earlier this year, optioned the film and television rights to John Valliant’s non-fiction book focusing on climate change, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World.

About Pathé

Founded in 1896, Pathé is one of the oldest film companies in the world and the only French studio still fully involved in production, sales, distribution, and exhibition.

For more than a century, Pathé has remained dedicated to distributing and producing outstanding films — from Academy Award® winners such as Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard (featuring Zoë Saldaña, winner of the Best Actress award), CODA by Siân Heder to acclaimed period dramas like The Iron Lady by Phyllida Lloyd (which earned Meryl Streep the Academy Award® for Best Actress), The Queen by Stephen Frears (featuring Helen Mirren, also an Academy Award® winner), Selma by Ava DuVernay, and beloved animated classics like Chicken Run.

With a talent-driven creative approach, Pathé maintains long-standing and trusted relationships with leading filmmakers such as Pedro Almodóvar, Jane Campion, Paolo Sorrentino, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Paul Verhoeven, and Matteo Garrone and as well as emerging talents including Antonin Baudry (The Wolf’s Call), Siân Heder (CODA), Alice Winocour, Audrey Diwan, and Amélie Bonnin (Leave One Day – Opening Film, Cannes Film Festival).

Upcoming Pathé productions include, among others, Ally by Academy Award® winner Bong Joon-Ho, Bunker by Academy Award® winner Florian Zeller, starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and 2026 Cannes Film Festival premieres : Karma by Guillaume Canet, starring Marion Cotillard (Out of Competition); The Unknown by Academy Award® winner Arthur Harari, starring Léa Seydoux (In Competition), and De Gaulle by Antonin Baudry (Out of Competition).

Pathé is also a leading cinema network in continental Europe and West Africa, with more than 1300 screens, offering premium experiences through cutting-edge technologies such as IMAX®, Dolby Cinema, and 4DX.