Pathé Bellecour

Pathé Bellecour is a cinema in the Bellecour district of Lyon, France, located at 79 rue de la République in the 2nd arrondissement, near Place Bellecour. It belongs to the French Pathé group, which also built it. When it opened in 1933 it was the largest cinema in the city, with 1,800 seats; it later became the first cinema in Lyon to offer multiple screens in 1972 and the first multiplex in 1995. Today it has ten screens with a total of 2,120 seats, including a 4DX auditorium. Since its construction it has carried the famous golden rooster, Pathé's brand logo, at its summit, mounted on a sphere symbolizing the Earth. The building was designed by Eugène Chirié and supervised by Bernard Natan himself. The exterior was built in the 'spectacle' style, making it identifiable from afar with a strongly lit façade and a 33-metre concrete tower topped by the Pathé emblem, a rooster perched on a globe. The first film shown there, on 9 March 1933, was Paris-Méditerranée by Joe May. Several later transformations were undertaken under the architect Georges Peynet, around 1950 and in 1959, when the cinema was known as Majestic. In 1972 it underwent its first major transformation with the creation of a multi-screen cinema, the first in Lyon, with four screens, and the lobby was equipped with an escalator serving two of them. A fifth screen opened in 1979 and two more in 1986. In 1995 it was entirely remodelled, becoming Lyon's first multiplex with ten screens and a total of 2,000 seats. In 2011 a new lobby was fitted out, with manual ticket counters replaced by automatic ticketing. A 4DX auditorium opened in July 2018, the second in the Métropole after the one at Pathé Carré de Soie. In 2024 the cinema benefited from a renovation with new seats and a switch to laser projectors.

Pathé Bellecour was created in 1933 by Pathé Natan (Bernard Natan had succeeded Charles Pathé, the founder of the film company, in 1929) on the site of the Casino-Kursaal. The building was designed by Eugène Chirié and supervised by Bernard Natan himself. At the time of its opening it was the largest cinema in the city, with 1,800 seats, a lower auditorium and two balconies. The exterior was built in the 'spectacle' style, making it identifiable from afar with a strongly lit façade and a 33-metre concrete tower topped by the Pathé emblem, a rooster perched on a globe. On 9 March 1933 the first film shown there was Paris-Méditerranée by Joe May. Several of its many later transformations were undertaken under the architect Georges Peynet, around 1950 and in 1959, when the cinema was known as Majestic. In 1972 it underwent its first major transformation with the creation of a multi-screen cinema, the first in Lyon, with four screens, and the lobby was equipped with an escalator serving two of them. A fifth screen opened in 1979 and two more in 1986. In 1995 it was entirely remodelled, becoming Lyon's first multiplex with ten screens and a total of 2,000 seats. In 2011 a new lobby was fitted out, with manual ticket counters replaced by automatic ticketing. A 4DX auditorium opened in July 2018, the second in the Métropole after the one at Pathé Carré de Soie. In 2024 the cinema benefited from a renovation with new seats and a switch to laser projectors.

• 2024

  Renovation with new seats and a switch to laser projectors.

• 2018

  A 4DX auditorium opens in July, the second in the Métropole after Pathé Carré de Soie.

• 2011

  New lobby fitted out; manual ticket counters replaced by automatic ticketing.

• 1995

  Entirely remodelled, becoming Lyon's first multiplex with ten screens and 2,000 seats.

• 1986

  Two more screens open.

• 1979

  A fifth screen opens.

• 1972

  First major transformation into a multi-screen cinema, the first in Lyon, with four screens and an escalator in the lobby.

• 1959

  Further transformations under Georges Peynet.

• 1950

  Transformations under architect Georges Peynet, when the cinema was known as Majestic.

• 1933

  Cinema opens as the largest in Lyon with 1,800 seats; first film shown is Paris-Méditerranée by Joe May.

Historic flagship cinema in central Lyon, operated by Pathé, combining heritage architecture with modern multiplex and 4DX technology.

• Ten-screen multiplex

• 4DX auditorium

• Laser projection

1. 1Pathé Bellecourfr.wikipedia.org
2. 2Pathé Bellecourwikidata.org
3. 3Pathé Bellecourcinemaspathegaumont.com