French studio Pathé, together with backer Merit France , the holding company of French billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, are partnering with CODA producer Vendôme Pictures to launch a new production and finance company, Emotion Pictures, that will specialize in commercial, English-language feature films. The new studio, unveiled Tuesday, plans to develop, acquire, fully finance and produce a slate of wide-appeal English-language movies, which Pathé will release theatrically in France, Switzerland and Benelux. Emotion Pictures will have offices in Paris and Los Angeles. The move marks a major global expansion for Philippe Rousselet’s Vendôme and Jérôme Seydoux’s Pathé, two heavyweights of the French film industry. The companies previously partnered on CODA , Sian Heder’s triple Oscar winner, which was based on the 2014 French-Belgian film La Famille Bélier from director Éric Lartigau.…