Cinéma Opéra, Art Nouveau movie theater in Reims, France.
Cinéma Opéra is an Art Nouveau cinema in Reims featuring a facade of carved plaster, sculptures, and concrete elements. Stained glass window patterns decorate the structure, and the entrance displays curved geometric forms that define the overall design.
The building was designed in 1923 by architects Émile Thion and Marcel Rousseau as a 1,450-seat venue. It drew inspiration from Paris entertainment districts and became a defining example of cinema design from that era.
The cinema took the name Opéra in 1924, and the multiplex on Place Drouet-d'Erlon was renamed Opéraims in 2019 to keep the memory of the Rue de Thillois hall. It is run by the Cinémas Reynaud, the family circuit founded by Jean-Fabrice Reynaud, and shows art-house films alongside blockbusters, with original-version screenings and image-education programmes.
The cinema is located on Rue Théodore Dubois and operates as an active movie theater that is easy to visit. The architecture is visible from the street, giving visitors an impression of the building even without entering for a screening.
The 1922 project replaced the Aéro-Cinéma with an Aéro-Palace for 1,450 people, whose opening dome let spectators see the sky. The 1981 conversion kept that dome over the 784-seat main auditorium, with the screen placed where the balcony had been. The listed 1923 façade on Rue de Thillois survives, but its original Art Deco stained-glass windows were lost in the 2021 partial demolition.
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