MK2 Gambetta, Movie theater in 20th arrondissement of Paris, France.
MK2 Gambetta is a cinema with 6 screening rooms housed in a concrete building located at 6 rue Belgrand in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The venue offers around 1,238 seats and shows contemporary and art-house films.
The site first held a theatre called Les Beuglantes, replaced in 1920 by the 1,500-seat Gambetta-Palace cinema, which passed to Gaumont in 1928. In 1970 the single auditorium was split into three screens, and two more were added in the basement after a neighbouring shop was bought in 1980. MK2 took over in 1997; the Art Deco facade by Henri Sauvage was restored in 2012 and the whole venue renovated in 2023.
The cinema's name comes from the MK2 group, which took over the Gambetta-Palace in 1997; the building itself was designed by Henri Sauvage in the Art Deco style of the 1920s. Its curved facade carries bas-reliefs of palm leaves and theatre masks, a reminder of the theatre Les Beuglantes that stood here before the cinema opened in 1920.
The cinema stands at 6 rue Belgrand, near place Gambetta in the 20th arrondissement, reachable by metro lines 3 and 3 bis at Gambetta station. The entrance sits at street level beneath the black "mk2 Gambetta" sign, with the six screens split between the ground floor and the basement, so allow time to move between levels.
The facade's upper section carries bas-reliefs of palm leaves and theatre masks, restored identically during a 2012 cleaning of the listed exterior. The building was designed by Henri Sauvage in Art Deco style and takes a rotunda form. Look up before entering: the reliefs sit above the green metal bands and the black mk2 Gambetta sign.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,752 contributors worldwide.
