After the tremendous popular success of the 　　Fant?mas novels, both of the major French 　　film studios — Pathé and Gaumont — 　　vied for the rights to produce films based 　　on the series. Gaumont won, and from 　　April 1913 to May 1914 Louis Feuillade 　　directed five Fant?mas films which critic 　　David Thomson has described as "the first 　　great movie experience."