Luc Besson opens luxury Paris multiplex

This article titled “Luc Besson opens luxury Paris multiplex” was written by Andrew Pulver, for theguardian.com on Friday 18th October 2013 09.06 UTC

French director-producer powerhouse Luc Besson has entered on a new venture: a luxury cinema offering gourmet food to patrons. His EuropaCorp studio has opened a multiplex just outside Paris, in a bid to put it on the same footing as other French studios such as Pathe and Gaumont.

The 12-screen cinema is located in the newly-built Aeroville shopping mall near Charles de Gaulle airport and already contains a string of boutique names. EuropaCorp CEO Christophe Lambert said the company had invested over m in the facility, which contains a live performance space, two luxury cinemas with a VIP lounge where gourmet food retailer Petrossian will serve caviar and champagne, an Imax screen, and eight standard cinemas.

The multiplex opened with a red-carpet premiere of Besson’s latest film, The Family, in which Robert de Niro plays a mobster trying to hide with his family in a small French village. Lambert said Europa is aiming to open seven more cinemas by 2020.