EuropaCorp CEO Axel Duroux has resigned from his position and company founder and former CEO Luc Besson will step into the role as interim for a limited period, effective immediately, according to a group statement on Thursday (December 14).
The shake-up is part of the group’s desire to restructure and ramp up its film and audiovisual production. Duroux replaced Besson in the position in September 2020 and signed on for a four-year term that was mandated to end in September 2024.
A spokesperson for EuropaCorp told Screen Duroux’s departure was anticipatory of the upcoming end of his contract and cited the group’s intentions to “accelerate production of both films and series” with a new CEO and projects that will be announced in 2024.
The spokesperson confirmed that Besson’s position was “interim and technical” as non-executive chairman of the board.
In a statement, the company thanked French-Swiss media executive Duroux “for the work he has accomplished”, adding that he “will continue to work closely with EuropaCorp as special advisor to the chairman until mid-May in order to ensure the best possible handover to the new management team”.
Besson has been at the centre of a long legal battle that ended in June when France’s appeals court officially dismissed rape accusations bought against him by Belgian-Dutch actress Sand Van Roy.
The case, and a 2018 Mediapart report in which nine women accused the director of sexual harassment and assault, became emblematic of the #MeToo movement in the world of French cinema.
The director of The Fifth Element and Leon: The Professional has always denied the allegations. He returned behind the camera and into the public eye when his film DogMan premiered at Venice in September. DogMan was released in French cinemas at the end of September and has sold nearly 300,000 tickets in France (€2.2m based on an average ticket price of €7.2).
The group confirmed its intention to greenlight several features and series currently in development as soon as financing is secured.
EuropaCorp confirmed that it had wrapped shooting for George Huang’s upcoming feature film Weekend Escape Project (working title) and would release the film in spring 2024. The thriller is co-written by Besson and Huang, produced by Virginie Besson-Silla, and stars Luke Evans and Gwei Lun Mei.
EuropaCorp also confirmed development has resumed on the series adaptation of Besson’s blockbuster feature Lucy, co-developed and co-produced by Los Angeles-based Village Roadshow.
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