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Le Grand Rex is a Movie theater and Music venue in Paris, France.
Its facades and roofs, as well as its hall and its decor, have been listed as a Monument historique since a decree on October 5, 1981. This giant cinema has a capacity of more than 2,700 people in its great hall and posts an average attendance level of 1 million visitors per year.This number does not take account of the shows and concerts taking place in the great hall, but only the cinema attendance levels.
Le Grand Rex is served by the Metro lines 8 and 9 at the Bonne-Nouvelle station, as well as by bus lines 20, 32, and 39.
Its designers are the architect Auguste Bluysen and the engineer John Eberson. The façade was designed by the sculptor Henri-Édouard Navarre and the decoration of the great hall was by Maurice Dufrêne.
The Grand Rex is a scale model of the famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
The cinema is also known for its interior décor. Specialized in "atmospheric halls", its architects built more than 400 decors of phantasmatic cities under cloudy, clear or starry skies in the United States.
Here, the great hall has been decorated by an "ancient Mediterranean" city in relief, located in the open air with its colorful walls reproducing the Art Deco atmosphere of the "French Riviera" villas.
All of the architect's desires were fulfilled, except for the number of seats, which originally had to be reduced to .
The Grand Rex hall opens its doors on the evening of December 8, 1932, in the presence of the cinema's pioneer, Louis Lumière and guests. The Three Musketeers by Henri Diamant-Berger is on the bill.
It is one of the biggest halls in Paris.
The projection booth is located in the corbel of the rue Poissonnière. The angle lantern is actually a simple metal trellis on which was projected cement mortar.
The producer and director Émile Couzinet opened a small Rex in Bordeaux (800 seats), designed by the same architects, which stayed open until the 1970s.
Despite the success of the Grand Rex, Jacques Haïk files for bankruptcy and sells it to Gaumont, before Jean Hellmann, Alan Byre and Laudy Lawrence buy it themselves.
At that time, the program of Grand Rex was divided into two parts, with an intermission in between: a first part with a musical opening and the newsreel, a second part with attractions (waterfalls, erupting volcanos…) and then the proper film. Dancers, musicians, machinery and ushers were therefore necessary for the smooth running of the show.
Starting on December 4, 1953, the first feature film in CinemaScope, The Robe, directed by Henry Koster, was projected there in tandem with the cinema located on the Champs-Elysées. In 1950 already, during the screening of Gone with the Wind, the projectionist had enlarged the image during fire scenes.
After the failure of the "Le Miroir de Neptune" (The Neptune Mirror) attraction in 1953 (swimmers performing in a transparent pool placed on the stage), the "Féerie des eaux" (Magic waters) attraction was created in March 1954, during which liters are projected twenty meters high with lighting effects and a musical accompaniment. It is a success: water shows have enlivened the great hall every year at Christmas since 1954, the "Féerie des eaux" (Magic waters), shortly before the screening of the end-of-the-year Disney film.
In 1957, the escalator of the Grand Rex was inaugurated by Gary Cooper and Mylène Demongeot, superseding elevators. It was the first time a European hall was equipped with such material.
In 1960, the cinema experienced a better attendance level than the Louvre Museum. Eight years later, the combination of the "Féerie des eaux" (Magic waters) and The Jungle Book enabled the Grand Rex to receive around 500,000 spectators.
In 1963, Alfred Hitchcock presented his new movie, The Birds there.
In 1974, three small halls were added to the complex, at the location of the dressing and rehearsal rooms. The Rex Club, a nightclub, replaces the "Rêve" dancing, a chic establishment which was created in 1932.
In 1988, "Le Grand Large" (The Great Large) was installed, a 300 square meters screen, making it the biggest (non-IMAX) screen in Europe. Designed and created by Luc Heripret, it was inaugurated by Luc Besson’s The Big Blue, which totalled tickets sold at the Grand Rex after months on the bill.
In 1997, the Grand Rex opened its program to festivals, concerts and of many artists who perform on stage.
In 1988, the director Peter Jackson received an award for his film Bad Taste there, and, in 2002, the singer Britney Spears was present for the screening of Crossroads, causing a riot, during which some outside windows were shattered.
In 2009, the façade was equipped with digital signs, whose light showcases its Art Deco column.
In 2017, the great hall was renovated.
In 2020, from February 22 to March 8, the singer Madonna played her last eight shows of her Madame X Tour.
While its contemporary attendance levels are usually close to a million spectators, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Grand Rex to close in August 2020, after attempting at the end of the first lockdown in June, to screen retrospectives and thematic marathons. Starting from December of the same year, the cinema is being fully renovated.
The Grand Rex now has a capacity ranging from to spectators in its great hall.
It is renowned for hosting premieres with the films’ crews as well as special events, called “Marathons”, which gather the fans of a franchise ( i.e. Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, various adaptations of Tolkien’s work, The Hunger Games).
In 2023, the film Oppenheimer premiered at the Grand Rex.
The audience is only seated on the 2nd balcony and ends up particularly close to the screen.
Projection: 2 Barco DP32 projectors in 4k.
It was designed and created by Luc Heripret and Team Break within the Rex Studios.
The screening starts two weeks before the French national release.
As the opening act, the audience can attend a sound, light and water show called the Féerie des eaux (Magic waters). A huge pool and colored water jets are placed on the stage for this.
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