By Joshua Cornelius

If you’ve seen a film that credits EuropaCorp with it’s production, chances are very good that you’re seeing a film that Léon director Luc Besson had a hand in developing.  Besson started EuropaCorp with longtime business partner Pierre-Ange le Pogam in 2000.  Since then, the company has produced a string of hits known to audiences around the world.  With his writing partner, Robert Mark Kamen, many of EuropaCorp’s most successful productions have even been scripted or were born from an original story by Besson (Taken, From Paris With Love, The Transporter films).  Known in cases to be an exceedingly “hands on” producer, some of the films he’s produced even bear the indelible hallmarks of Besson’s cinematographic and editing sensibilities (Kiss of the Dragon).  Even if only a few Besson directed films feel like his work, more than most seem eager to appeal to a larger global audience, as Besson’s own work has, purposefully or otherwise.

A standard EuropaCorp action production seems to follow this rather successful formula:

1. Write a script featuring universally recognizable, well worn plot points so that the story can be understood on a multi-cultural level.
2. Employ a “for hire” director who is transitioning from music videos or who is as yet unproven and unlikely to make an excessive number of demands.
3. Stock the cast with internationally recognizable stars who are a proven box office commodity.
4. Set the film in an exotic European locale where EuropaCorp can keep an eye on production and hopefully keep costs down.
5. Allow the locale to become an element of the story.  Instantly familiar to those markets, but exotic and luxuriant to the rest of the world.
6. Market the film in areas where the talent are most bankable.
7. Profit.

Though Besson serves as Chairman of the Board at EuropaCorp (with an alleged 62% ownership of the company) he has more than contributed to his own cinematic oeuvre in the ensuing decade since the company was founded.  As an unlikely children’s author, Besson has written several books in the “Arthur” series and turned three of them into successful films starting with Arthur and the Invisibles.  He’s also directed films like Angel-A and The Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec.

What follows is a list of EuropaCorp productions, culled from Wikipedia.  I’ve taken care to mark in bold standout films that Besson appreciators might enjoy.  Films in red were directed by Besson himself.

2000

• Taxi 2, by Gérard Krawczyk
• The Dancer, by Fred Garson
• Exit, by Olivier Megaton

2001

• Yamakasi, by Ariel Zeitoun and Julien Seri
• Week-end Break, by Patrick Alessandrin
• Kiss of the Dragon, by Chris Nahon
• Wasabi, by Gérard Krawczyk
• Antitrust, by Peter Howitt
• Original Sin, by Michael Cristofer
• One Night at McCool’s, by Harald Zwart

2002

• Blanche, by Bernie Bonvoisin
• Once Upon an Angel, by Vincent Perez
• The Transporter, by Louis Leterrier
• Chaos and Desire, by Manon Briand
• Tears of the Black Tiger, by Wisit Sasanatieng

2003

• Laughter and Punishment, by Isabelle Doval
• Taxi 3, by Gérard Krawczyk
• I, César, by Richard Berry
• Tristan, by Philippe Harel
• Fanfan, by Gérard Krawczyk
• Les Côtelettes, by Bertrand Blier
• High Tension, by Alexandre Aja
• La Felicità, non costa niente, by Mimmo Calopresti
• Michel Vaillant, by Louis-Pascal Couvelaire
• Bangkok Dangerous, by the Pang Brothers
• The Eye, by the Pang Brothers
• The Human Stain, by Robert Benton
• Together, by Chen Kaige

2004

• Crimson Rivers 2, by Olivier Dahan
• The Story of My Life (Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinités) , by Laurent Tirard
• My Spitting Image, by Aruna Villiers
• District 13, by Pierre Morel
• Ong Bak, by Prachya Pinkaew

2005

• Unleashed, by Louis Leterrier
• Ze Film, by Guy Jacques
• The Prompter, by Guillaume Pixie
• Pale Eyes, by Jérome Bonnell
• Imposture, by Patrick Bouchitey
• Next!, by Jeanne Biras
• Transporter 2, by Louis Leterrier
• Revolver, by Guy Ritchie
• The Black Box, by Richard Berry
• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, by Tommy Lee Jones
• Angel-A, by Luc Besson
• Don’t Move, by Sergio Castellitto
• The Green Butchers, by Anders Thomas Jensen

2006

• Colour Me Kubrick, by Brian W. Cook
• Bandidas, by Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg
• The Chinese Botanist’s Daughters, by Dai Sijie
• Dikkenek, by Olivier Van Hoofstadt
• Cheeky, by David Thewlis
• Citizen Dog, by Wisit Sasanatieng
• The Singer, by Xavier Giannoli
• Tell No One, by Guillaume Canet
• Arthur and the Invisibles, by Luc Besson
• Adam’s Apples, by Anders Thomas Jensen

2007

• Taxi 4, by Gérard Krawczyk
• Michou d’Auber by Thomas Gilou
• Love and Other Disasters, by Alek Keshishian
• The Dinner Guest, by Laurent Bouhnik
• The Secret by Vincent Perez
• Masked Mobsters, by Ariel Zeitoun
• Hitman, by Xavier Gens (Executive Producer)

2008

• Frontier(s), by Xavier Gens
• My Very Best Friend, by Isabelle Doval
• Taken, by Pierre Morel
• Behind the Walls, by Christian Faure
• Sagan, by Diane Kurys
• Go Fast, by Olivier Van Hoofstadt
• Being W., by Karl Zéro and Michel Royer
• The Transporter 3, by Olivier Megaton
• Four Minutes, by Chris Kraus
• Be Kind, Rewind, by Michel Gondry
• Dan in real life, by Peter Hedges
• G.A.L., by Miguel Courtois

2009

• Special Correspondents, by Frédéric Auburtin
• District 13: Ultimatum, by Patrick Alessandrin
• Villa Amalia, by Benoît Jacquot
• Hallelujah!, by Roger Delattre
• Home, by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
• Staten Island, by James DeMonaco
• Human zoo, by Rie Rasmussen
• Fashion Victim, by Gérard Jugnot
• The Concert, by Radu Mihaileanu
• In the Beginning, by Xavier Giannoli
• Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard, by Luc Besson
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Bharat Nalluri
• Ong-Bak 2 by Tony Jaa
• Tears for Sale by Uros Stojanovic
• The Cove by Louie Psihoyos

2010

• Hermano, by Marcel Rasquin
• The Whistler, by Philippe Lefebvre
• Paris Express, by Hervé Renoh
• 22 Bullets, by Richard Berry
• I Love You Phillip Morris, by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
• From Paris With Love, by Pierre Morel
• The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, by Luc Besson
• Little White Lies, by Guillaume Canet
• The Big Picture, by Eric Lartigau
• Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds, by Luc Besson
• Storm, by Hans-Christian Schmid
• The Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick