Offering unparalleled comfort and excellent projection quality, the new Pathé Parnasse introduces an equally high-end pricing structure. The full-price ticket is set at 18.50 euros.
Is the public turning away from the cinema? The Pathé group is reinventing it as an ultra-desirable venue. A new cinema complex, positioned at the top end of the market, opens today in Paris. Located near the Luxembourg Gardens and the Montparnasse train station, the former Gaumont Parnasse has been given a complete facelift. Renamed Pathé Parnasse, it offers 12 theaters whose approach has been completely revised to satisfy demanding spectators. According to Aurélien Bosc, president of the Pathé Group’s cinema branch, it is “the first entirely premium cinema in Paris.
Unparalleled comfort
The new venue offers unprecedented comfort. The seats, which are fully reclinable, were designed specifically for this cinema and are wider than in a conventional theater. The spectator will be all the more at ease as the capacity of the place has been reduced by more than half, going from 2000 to 800 seats. One row of seats out of two has in fact disappeared in the renovation, leaving a corridor of two meters between each of them.
Comfort for the eyes too: laser technology, acclaimed for its superior quality display, was chosen for the projections.
Full price at 18.50 euros
With such a positioning, Pathé is betting that spectators will be willing to pay more for a movie. 18.50 for a special screening. Reduced rates are also offered, however, 12.50 euros in the morning, 13.50 euros for students and 7.50 euros for children under 14, which is still a luxury when you consider that the average price of a ticket to see a feature film was 7.09 euros in 2021 in France, according to the National Center of Cinematography (CNC). Two out of three spectators benefit from a reduced rate, according to the National Federation of Cinema Exhibitors (FNCF).
Against this uberization of the cinema, Jérôme Seydoux, the co-chairman of the Pathé group (the leader in France with 128 cinemas), is betting on its “upmarket” and “modernization” to “create a difference”. In a recent interview with Le Monde, the group, which is also a producer, also announced that in 2023 it will focus on show films.
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The new Pathé Parnasse will be a good trial balloon to test this strategy of moving upmarket in movie theaters.
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