Former EuropaCorp CEO Christophe Lambert died Tuesday after a battle with lung cancer, TheWrap has learned.
The 51-year-old executive raised eyebrows in February with his swift departure from the company, which has an international distribution pact with Relativity Stuidos. He was diagnosed in March.
“We have just learned of the death of Christopher Lambert. The whole EuropaCorp family mourns his departure. The group and all colleagues present offer their condolences to Marie Sara, his children, his family and all his relatives,” the company said in a statement.
“I am deeply saddened by the death of my dear friend… he was, first and foremost, an incredibly devoted father and husband, and his family was most important to him; that will be his legacy. Christophe was also a uniquely talented filmmaker and charismatic leader. He will be deeply missed, and my thoughts are with his family,” said Tucker Tooley, former Relativity Media president who now runs an eponymous production company.
Earlier this year, the company’s board named former Universal Pictures chairman Marc Shmuger as his replacement on an interim basis, TheWrap reported.
Lambert decided to focus on producing his own projects after securing funding for EuropaCorp founder Luc Besson‘s upcoming blockbuster “Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” the company said at the time.