Boxoffice-July.1997

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SPECIAL REPORT: Cinema Expo 1997
MULTIPLEX MAVEN
Founder ofDecatron and Kinepolis andfather of the European
multiplex, Albert Bert is Cinema Expo's Exhibitor of the Year
by Pat Kramer
Albeit
Bert, founder of the Belgium-based
Decatron N.V. and
co-founder of its sister company,
the Kinepolis Group, is Cinema Expo's
Exhibitor of the Year. Bert's exhibition
circuit is Belgium's largest, and it's making
inroads into the Dutch and French
markets due to the company's unique
qualifications in building multiplexes.
Widely regarded as the man who
launched Europe's multiplex boom in the
1980s, Bert's companies now operate 1
multiplexes (including two in France)
with 100 screens. Bom into a family
whose heritage was exhibition, Bert followed
the example of his grandfather,
Charles Bert, a forerunner in early exhibition.
The elder Bert established Harelbeke's
first cinema in 1927, running
silents at the Hotel de Flandres, while
Albert's father, Alfred, debuted
Harelbeke's Theatre Majestic in 1941.
Starting out as a ticket seller, Albert
later became involved in the singlescreen
theatre's renovation into a twinscreen
cinema, providing Belgium with
its first multiplex. Joining forces with his
sister-in-law. Rose Qaeys, Bert built a threescreen
theatre called Trioscoop in 1972 as a
sort of test case to see if attendance would
increase when a greater choice of films was
provided. Located in Hasselt, a small provincial
town with only two screens at the time,
Trioscoop was a perfect place to begin proving
this theory. The success of Trioscoop quickly
demonstrated that multi-screen cinemas were
the way to go in Belgium. Bert later added four
more screens to the theatre.
However, as Bert recalls, other exhibitors
were not quite ready to accept the concept back
then. "When my family first started multiplexing
in Belgium, 25 to 30 years ago, attendance
was down very low. Most of my colleagues
thought, 'Yes, he's lucky. Each time it's a
bull.s-eye, but it will not continue.'"
Pentascoop, a five-screen cinema, followed
in 1975 in Kortrijk. In 1981, the 12-screen
Decascoop was built in Ghent. Setting a new
standard for the whole of Europe, Decascoop's
dozen halls and stadium seating for 3,500
made it one of the first modem multiplexes.
"That was the first very big multiplex," Bert
SPECIAL REPORT:
CINEMA
EXPO
1997
recollects. "It had 12 screens, but only one
projection booth!"
Having established expertise in multiplexes,
Bert in 1 987 founded Decatron, owned
by the Bert family. The Kinepolis Group, a
partnership between Bert and Claeys, was inaugurated
the following year with the opening
in Brussels in 1988 of Kinepolis, then the
world's largest multiplex. With
Kinepolis, featuring 24 screens plus an
IMAX theatre, Bert continued to set the
trend for European exhibition.
Since that time, the Kinepolis Group
has added three additional multiplexes.
The 24-screen, 8,500-seat Metropolis is
in Antwerp, and there are two multiplexes
in France: Kinepolis's 14-screen
complex at St. Juhen-les-Metz and the
23-screen Le Chateau du Cinema at
Lomme (Lille). This September, another
multiplex will open in Belgium, a 10-
screen complex in Kortrijk.
With the Belgian exhibition market
now reaching its saturation point, Bert
says plans are to expand into new markets.
One such venture includes the
freshly inked partnership between Decatron
managing director Joost Bert (Bert's
eldest son) and A.J. Weststrate of
Holland's Cinema Groep for an eightscreen
multiplex in Vlissingen (see our
report in the May 1 997 issue). This partnership
is expected to yield at least 10
exhibition outlets in the Netherlands over
the next few years.
Given such burgeoning growth, Bert relies
on sons Joost, Koen, Geert and Peter to help
with management and planning. (There are also
1 3 grandchildren to carry on the family tradition.)
Although he acknowledges his role in
bringing about European multiplexing, he says
there are always new challenges in exhibition.
"1 am always busy. I just received a call from
my son, Joost, who has been [in France] in
Nancy to talk with city authorities. Yesterday, he
was in Reims, about 200 kilometers from here.
In every city in which we go, we have competition.
We're in competition with French companies
that started five or six years ago in
multiplexing. They don't have the same experience
as us, but I still have to plead for my project"
Commenting on his Exhibitor of the Year
award, Bert comments wryly, "It's better than
the Lifetime Achievement Award. 1 am only
69 years old—I'm not done yet!" Saying he's
inspired by his father and grandfather in
heaven, Bert continues to greet the new
challenges with the same perseverance and
vision that has won him acclaim for nearly
three decades in exhibition.
MM