Nice : the « cinema village » owned by Pathé

Member of the « Europalaces » group together with Gaumont, Pathé has bought out the « Cinema village of Nice Lingostière » to the Australians of Village Road Show. The transaction took place in June, for an amount which was not revealed. Opened at the beginning of December 1999 (see article "Multiplex : the opening of the Cinema Village ", this multiplex of 10 screens and 1,500 seats, should reach 700,000 admissions at the end of the year.However, Pathé, which already owns many cinemas in Nice city centre (900,000 tickets sold per year), seems to plan to reinforce its position in the city of Nice. It is to compete with another multiplex project in progress , leaded by UGC Méditérranée, a competitor. Indeed, this multiplex project at the Arenas is behind schedule (the administrative court cancelled the planning permission given by the city and an appeal is under way). Nevertheless, it is much bigger with 21 screens, more than 6,000 seats and a strategic site, in front the airport, near an exist of the motorway, the A8.