| Type | Public (Euronext: GAM) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motion pictures |
| Founded | 1895 |
| Headquarters | Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Key people | Léon Gaumont, Nicolas Seydoux |
| Products | Motion pictures, television programs, film distribution |
| Revenue | € 101.9 million (2010) |
| Subsidiaries | Gaumont-Alphanim |
| Website | www.gaumont.fr |
|
Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont (1864–1946). Gaumont is the oldest continuously operating film company in the world.[1]
Originally dealing in photographic apparatus, the company began producing short films in 1897 to promote its make of camera-projector. Léon Gaumont's secretary Alice Guy-Blaché became the motion picture industry’s first female director. From 1905 to 1914, its studios "Cité Elgé" (from the normal French pronunciation of the founder's initials L-G) at La Villette, France, were the largest in the world.
The company manufactured its own equipment and mass-produced films until 1907, when Louis Feuillade became the artistic director of Gaumont. When World War I broke out, he was replaced by Léonce Perret, who continued his career in the United States a few years later. The company headquarters are in Neuilly-sur-Seine.[2]
Among some of the most notable films produced were the serials Judex and Fantômas; the comic Onésime series, starring Ernest Bourbon; the comic Bébé series, starring five-year-old René Dary; and the newsreels of the Gaumont Actualities. Directors such as Abel Gance, Alfred Hitchcock, and the early animator Emile Cohl worked for this studio at one time or another.
Gaumont opened foreign offices and acquired theatre chains Gaumont British, which later notably produced several Hitchcock films such as The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). Along with its giant competitor Pathé Frères, Gaumont dominated the motion-picture industry in Europe until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Gaumont also constructed the Lime Grove Studios.
After significant post-war losses to American productions in market-share/competition, Gaumont experienced the subsequent business reversals of technological change (the advent of sound) and financial depression, and was eventually merged with Franco-Film Aubert in the early 1930s.
In 1975, media tycoon and French Old money heir, multillionaire Nicolas Seydoux started managing Gaumont of which he personally owned 60% of the shares and 70% of the votes.
In 2005, Gaumont's revenues were over $200 million.
Gaumont is still independent and has been recognized as one of the largest producers and distributors of films in France (Léon, The Fifth Element). The company has also produced television shows, including four animated series: Highlander: The Animated Series, Dragon Flyz, and Sky Dancers (the second and third are based on their respective toy lines) and the very popular Oggy and the Cockroaches.
On February 2, 2000, Philippe Binant, technical manager of Digital Cinema Project at Gaumont, realized the first digital cinema projection in Europe[3] with the Texas Instruments prototype projector. From January 2004-2007 the company had a partnership with Sony for producing films and for theatre and DVD distribution worldwide. Together with Pathe they operate their own cinemas across France. For many years, Gaumont's home video division was a joint venture with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Currently, Gaumont distributes its films through Paramount Pictures on video in France. In 2008 Gaumont took over French animation studio, Alphanim and renamed it Gaumont-Alphanim.
Léon Gaumont selected the daisy as the company logo to pay homage to his mother, whose first name was Marguerite (Daisy). Today, in spite of regular modifications of the drawing, the daisy is always present even if its significance is forgotten.