Boxoffice-July.1997

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iU^ XllWlWEll'V 1 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
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