UGC is a cinema operator in France and Belgium, operating 57 cinemas as of 2022. It is also a major film production and distribution company.
France and Belgium
UGC was originally an exclusively French operator, privatized in 1971, who merged with several regional cinema companies running 22 cinemas.[1] The name originally stood for Union Générale Cinématographique, but today only the initials are used. The company is focused on the business side of the film business and French-dubbed versions, showing little interest in the screening of artistic cinema, on the contrary to Pathé and Gaumont cinemas, except in some UGC Paris theatres where the programming is very diversified and includes both subtitled and dubbed versions. Out of Paris, in some cities like Nantes, Bordeaux and Lyon, a part of this diversified programming does exist, but mostly UGC cinemas are like Pathé and Gaumont cinemas. Its competitors include Pathé Cinémas, Cinéville, CGR and Kinepolis Group.
In 2016, Kinepolis Group had sold the four Belgian Utopolis cinemas it had happened to acquire when it had taken over Utopia Group to UGC.[2]