“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” is a passion project for writer/director Luc Besson. The ambitious filmmaker hopes to start off a new franchise based on the ‘60s French comic series, and he’s pulling out all the stops in this film. Judging by the most recent trailer, ‘Valerian’ is definitely going to ambitious and beautiful.
“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” tells the story of Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and his partner Laureline (Cara Delevingne) as they save the galaxy in the 28th century. Its clear that Besson is taking everything he did in “The Fifth Element” and turning the dial to 11. The footage is bright, colorful and beautiful. It’s almost overwhelming seeing so much detail in each frame.
That detail comes at a price, however. ‘Valerian’ is the most expensive French film of all time with a reported production budget of €197.47 million (about $210 million U.S.). That means this film better be a hit or audiences won’t see much more ‘Valerian’ in the future. It’ll be interesting to see how audiences react to a new space opera in a year where they already have “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Oh yeah, and the film is also opening opposite Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, “Dunkirk.”
“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” opens July 21st.