A few days after the legendary Bretagne in Montparnasse in the heart of Paris, it is the turn of the Gaumont Champs-Élysées Marignan on the Champs-Élysées to close its doors forever. This emblematic cinema of the capital and of the Pathé group will have lived 90 years. “Inaugurated on March 30, 1933 under the Pathé brand with La Dame de chez Maxim’s by Alexandre Korda, it was with the Grand Rex, one of the most luxurious rooms in Paris,” says Axel Huyghe, historian of dark rooms, author of several reference books (*) and founder of the site salle-cinema.com. In an art deco style, its unique room with 1,700 seats included an orchestra, two balconies and a bar. Spectators were greeted with ushers in livery and caps.”

Before being assassinated at Auschwitz in 1942, its founder, producer Bernard Natan of Romanian origin, had made it an exclusive cinema, specializing in major productions such as Les Croix de Bois by Raymond Bernard, Le testament du Docteur Mabuse by Fritz Lang or the films of Sacha Guitry. With more than 300,000 admissions, its greatest success was Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which remained on display for eighteen weeks in a row in 1938. “Under the occupation, French Jews no longer had the right to right to operate theaters and cinemas. The Gaumont Champs-Élysées becomes a “Soldaten Kino”, a cinema reserved for Nazi officers and their guests. At the Liberation, it was requisitioned again, this time for officers of the allied troops,” explains Axel Huyghe. In 1968 then in 1974, it was gradually divided into six rooms. In 1992, it was renamed Gaumont Champs-Élysées Marignan.

His disappearance is not really a surprise. When Pathé – which was especially strong in the region – took over the Gaumont cinemas, very well established in Paris, the Gaumonts in the capital became Pathé. With the exception of a handful including the Gaumont Champs-Élysées Marignan. It wasn’t a good sign. On the Champs-Élysées, the Gaumont Ambassade had already closed in 2016. The UGC George-V signed its end in 2020 after 82 years of existence.

With the rise of magnificent multiplexes on the outskirts, movie buffs living in the suburbs no longer need or want to come to the Champs-Élysées to see films on the big screen. Parisians have long since changed their habits. Originally, the two major cinema locations were the Champs-Élysées and the Grands Boulevards. In 2023, since the rise of the UGC Cité, the beautiful MK2s as well as the Pathé cinemas designed by great architects, Parisians will especially see films in Montparnasse, at Opéra, Beaugrenelle, at Les Halles, in the East and North of the capital. Even the French cinema industry has deserted the Champs-Élysées. The producers’ offices and the agents who have power today are all in the center of Paris and in the East. “In 30-40 years, the number of cinemas on the Champs-Élysées has fallen from twenty to four. All that remains is the UGC Normandie with its magnificent starry sky room, the Lincoln, the Publicis and in the perpendicular streets, the Balzac and the Mac Mahon. These cinemas are resisting in particular thanks to previews and festival programming,” underlines Axel Huyghe.

For Aurélien Bosc, president of Pathé Cinémas, the Gaumont Champs-Élysées Marignan posed a concern not about rent but about real estate engineering. “We have increased our efforts for ten years to transform it into a premium cinema like at Pathé Parnasse. The modernization projects followed one after another but were never able to succeed, in particular due to architectural and technical constraints due to the heritage character of the building, explains Aurélien Bosc. Without being the owner of the premises, we were confronted with the lack of agreement between our two co-owners and with divergent strategies on this emblematic real estate complex on the Champs-Élysées.” Added to this impasse, the drop in attendance on the Champs-Élysées and the enormous investments in the new flagships of the Pathé group such as the Pathé Parnasse and the Pathé Palace near the Opéra Garnier, sealed the fate of the last Gaumont on the Champs-Élysées. It was necessary to arbitrate.

At Paris town hall, Michel Gomez, delegate of the Cinema Mission, promises that there are no other closures planned. “After the pandemic, heritage theaters like those in the Latin Quarter held up better than multiplexes,” he underlines. These curtain drops are certainly very sad, but what is preparing to emerge from the earth is magnificent. “The Pathé Palace at the Opera will be the most wonderful cinema in the capital, spectators will go to the rooms going up to the sky,” confides Michel Gomez who had the chance to visit the construction site and see the plans. The architect Renzo Piano designed a cinema bathed in light, the exact opposite of the UGC Cité Ciné les Halles. “The Pathé Palace will open in June 2024,” reveals Aurélien Bosc.

Still on the right bank but north of Paris near La Villette, he is also preparing to reopen La Géode. A very unique cinema in the shape of a perfect metal sphere with its mirrored walls. “Spectators will discover it in spring 2024,” he announces. The concrete structure by architect Adrien Fainsilber has been preserved and highlighted. Upon entering, we will finally discover its immense beams. This hemispherical cinema with double IMAX projection will be very unique. We want to make it a place of emotion. During the day, we will screen documentaries there and in the evening, important films of the moment.” Died in February 2023 at the age of 91, the architect will not see his work come to life again.

Finally, on the left bank, the Pagoda construction site is progressing well. The new owner Charles Cohen, a billionaire New York movie buff who has already tastefully restored several heritage cinemas in Great Britain and the United States, has spent lavishly to bring this gem back to life. The gilding, the sculptures, the frescoes are of breathtaking beauty. The reopening of this cinema will be one of the major Parisian events after the Olympic Games. The Pagoda will reveal all its beauty between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.

*Multi-edited: Boris Gourevitch, the man of complexes. Axel Huyghe, Preface by Frédéric Mitterrand, Axel (L’Harmattan), 32 euros. 144 pages.