Louvre’s $100 million jewel heist to be adapted for the big screen

Advertising Louvre’s $100 million jewel heist to be adapted for the big screen France

The audacious $100 million Louvre jewel robbery that stunned France last year is heading to the big screen, with director Romain Gavras adapting a new book on the case. Despite arrests and months of investigation, the stolen gems remain missing, fuelling intrigue around one of the most spectacular art-world crimes in recent memory.

Issued on: 26/05/2026 - 17:25Modified: 26/05/2026 - 18:56

1 min Reading time Share By: FRANCE 24

Last year's brazen robbery of the Louvre -- when thieves made off with jewellery worth some $100 million -- is set to become a movie, a publisher said on Tuesday.

French director Romain Gavras -- whose work includes 2025 Hollywood film "Sacrifice" starring Anya Taylor-Joy and music videos including most recently a hypnotic schoolboy choreography for GENER8ION -- will draw inspiration from the investigative book "Main basse sur le Louvre" (literally "A grab at the Louvre").

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Film rights to the book about the October 19, 2025 heist had been sold to the production company Iconoclast, the Flammarion publishing house said.

The book, written by three journalists, from French dailies Le Parisien and Le Monde, and weekly glossy magazine Paris Match, is to hit bookstores on Wednesday.

According to trade magazine Le Film Francais, the movie project is in development, though neither the title nor the cast has been announced.

The Louvre heist sent shockwaves around the world and sparked a security crisis within the world-famous museum that ultimately led to the replacement of its director, Laurence des Cars.

Read moreLouvre unveils new surveillance plan in wake of crown jewels heist

After seven months of investigation, and despite the arrests of the main suspects, the jewels have still not been found.

The authors said their apparent disappearance "has become a dense mystery, a puzzle that has plunged investigators into deep confusion".

The heist illustrates how "the theft of artworks has become a business like any other for many criminals", they say. "The criminal underworld has found a new cash cow."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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