Inside Le Grand Rex, Paris, The largest single movie auditorium in Europe

#paris #france #cinematic

00:00:00 Le Grand Rex Facade
00:02:21 Interior
00:02:40 The Great Hall
00:07:58 Rex Tower

"Opened: 1932 | Seats: 2,750

"The biggest movie theatre still operating in Paris, the Grand Rex opened on 8th December 1932 with “Les Trois Mousquetaires”(The Three Musketeers) starring Aime Simon-Girard, Henri Rollan & Thomy Bourdelle. It was built for independent operator Jacques Haik, who already operated the 5,000 seat l'Olympia music hall, and was the man who made Charlie Chaplin famous in France. In 1933 it was taken over by the Gaumont circuit who operated it until 1941, when it was taken over by the German Nazi occupiers and it became a Soldatenkino, for the use of German troops on leave. It was damaged by a bomb in September 1942 and remained closed until its reopening on 13th October 1944 during the Liberation of Paris.

The Rex Theatre Jacques Haik was designed by architect Auguste Bluysen in an Art Deco style, both externally and in its foyers, dance hall and restaurant areas. The Atmospheric/Moroccan style auditorium was the work of architect/interior decorator Maurice Dufrene, styled in collaboration with noted American theatre architect John Eberson. Originally seating was planned for 3,700, but was reduced to 3,300-seats on orchestra, mezzanine and balcony levels. It is in a perfect shape a big screen called “The Grand Large”, a screen on the stage within the proscenium that can be removed. It is used for some movies and as a tradition every Christmas a Disney movie is screened with a pre-show real waterfall and light-show on stage.

The original ‘Le Grand Rex’ auditorium with its 2,750-seats remains the largest single movie auditorium in Europe. It now hosts live concerts, with some film use for star-studded premieres and first runs.

In November 1974, three screens 1-3, were added in the space of the former basement ballroom which have seating for 304, 350 and 85. In 1983, four screens 4-7, were added in the next building (a former shoe warehouse) which seat 200, 235, 100 and 150. Films are always presented in their French versions.

"It shines out like a little piece of Times Square on Paris’s Grands Boulevards - the heart of Paris’s cinema industry back in the 1930s and 40s. The Grand Rex is the last remaining movie palace in Paris, but despite the advent of multiplexes with their fidelity cards, it's stood the test of time.

It remains a family business, offering a bit of Hollywood-style movie magic to ordinary French people, and increasingly, tourists.

Built in 1932, the Grand Rex is the largest of all the great movie theatres built around the world between the 1920s and 1940s. Its founder, Jacques Haïk wanted it to be the most extravagant and beautiful movie theatre in Europe.

He succeeded. Its main theatre seats some 2,700 people and boasts a 26m wide 16m high screen.

Haïk came from the south of France and wanted his movie theatre to have a Mediterranean feel. Hence the stunning art deco architecture and a midnight blue vaulted ceiling with twinkling stars. Each one is said to represent a star from the world of cinema.

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The website said the Great Hall contains 2, 702 seats. I'd love to count them just to see. I count roughly 800 seats on the bottom floor in this video (but maybe less). That leaves over 1, 900 seats for the remaining two smaller looking floors? The official website claims the sign on top of the build rotates since this latest restoration. Have yet to see it do so, however.