Luc Besson's Growing Film Empire

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Even so, Besson admits he has been frustrated by obstacles he has encountered in the U.S., where he must cut deals with local distributors to get his films into theaters. "There is protectionism," he says. Two years ago, he had a well-publicized spat with Harvey Weinstein, the U.S. distributor of Arthur and the Invisibles, after the film flopped with U.S. audiences. Besson accused Weinstein of botching the film's marketing and re-editing; Weinstein retorted that Besson was "out of his mind…a has-been."

A way around the distribution problem? Besson and Baronnet won't talk about specifics, but they hint that Europacorp may look for an acquisition or joint venture that would get them more readily into U.S. theaters.

Plan to Double Studio's Size by 2011

The global economic crisis is another worry. Even though Europacorp has a healthy $125 million line of credit at its disposal for filmmaking, it's getting harder to get films distributed. Lenders in some countries, including Russia and Italy, have sharply cut back credit offered to film distributors, which means fewer films are released in those countries. Europacorp already has predicted that revenues in the 2009 fiscal year, which ends on Mar. 31, will be lower than a year ago, when the company reported $186 million in sales and $8.7 million in earnings. (Revenues from Taken won't be posted until 2010.)

Meanwhile, Besson is pressing ahead with plans to double Europacorp's size by 2011, including a planned $150 million in investments over the next year. Among his projects: construction of a soundstage in St. Denis, a low-income Paris suburb. From Paris with Love was to have been filmed in a St. Denis housing project, but Besson had to move to another suburb after vandals set some vehicles and production equipment on fire. Still, Besson, who keeps a model of the planned soundstage in his office, says he remains committed to the project, which will provide jobs to local residents.

Besson cautions that the success of Taken is no guarantee of future blockbusters. "When you've been in this métier as long as I have, you know that from time to time there'll be one [film] that catches on. It's the chemistry of the moment." But he's confident that Europacorp will keep growing. "When this crisis ends one day, we'll pick up speed, and we'll be really solid."

Matlack is BusinessWeek's Paris bureau chief.