Kinepolis

Kinepolis Group is a Belgian company that operates cinema theatres in Western Europe. It was created in 1997 through the merger of two family-owned companies, the Bert group and the Claeys group. Kinepolis Group was listed on the stock exchange the following year.

Kinepolis Brussels (25 screens and 6,642 seats) was, at the time of its opening, the very first cinema to bear the name 'Kinepolis', and the first and largest megaplex in the world. This cinema played a pioneering role thanks to countless innovations in terms of visual, sound, and conceptual design. Numerous events and visits from film crews punctuate the cultural life of the metropolis.

In 1988, the Bert family built Kinepolis Brussels, in the Heysel district; it was then the first European multiplex. Its success led to a significant renewal of cinema theatres in Europe over the following two decades.

Kinepolis Group operates 58 complexes in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, and 50 in Canada and the USA, totalling 1097 screens across 108 complexes. It employs over 4,000 staff. In 2015, the Kinepolis group welcomed 22.1 million visitors to its cinemas in Europe. The company is listed in Brussels on Euronext and is part of the Next 150 index.

In 1988, the Kinepolis group built the first multiplex in Europe in Brussels. The building was constructed on the outskirts of Brussels, equipped with a large car park and built on a simple principle: a central aisle with 12 identical screens on each side. The screens are relatively small, the rows of seats are tiered, the armchairs are comfortable, the projectors are bright, equipped with the latest sound reproduction technologies, and the multiplex concept created a new qualitative standard in cinematic projection.

This new approach left the profession sceptical; the city-centre cinemas in Brussels did not believe that spectators would travel to the outskirts to see films. The developers were not very confident either. To ensure easy conversion in case of failure, the building was designed to be easily transformed into a car park; a car access ramp was even built, a ramp still present today and used by spectators to access the entrance to the screens.

The new qualitative standard attracted many spectators, and several city-centre operators, unable to reproduce these standards, were forced to close their establishments. Europe's first multiplex was a success; it was not transformed into a car park and began to send shivers down the spines of all single-screen cinemas and complexes across Europe.