Le Grand Rex, an Art Deco cinema on boulevard Poissonnière since 1932

Le Grand Rex, an Art Deco cinema and theatre at 1 boulevard Poissonnière, opened on 8 December 1932. The producer Jacques Haïk, owner of the Olympia, named it after the Latin word for “king”. The architects Auguste Bluysen and John Eberson made it an “atmospheric” auditorium: a Mediterranean town beneath a starry sky.

Louis Lumière was guest of honour at the opening night, before 3,300 people. During the Occupation the German army turned it into a cinema for its troops. The Féerie des eaux, a show of fountains, began in 1954 and returns every Christmas. Gary Cooper opened its escalator in 1957, and Alfred Hitchcock presented The Birds here in 1963.

Haïk sold it to Gaumont, then Jean Hellmann and two partners bought it. Listed as a historic monument in 1981, the Grand Rex has never divided its main auditorium. In 1988 the Grand Large, a 300-square-metre screen, was unveiled with The Big Blue, which ran for months.

On the Grands Boulevards, in the Sentier, the main auditorium holds more than 2,700 people. The complex has seven screens and hosts films, premieres, concerts and festivals; the Féerie des eaux returns every winter.