Valerian

Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, his passion project that he’d been wanting to make since before The Fifth Element, didn’t do so well in theaters. Did you see it? Probably not. And if you did, you’re in a depressingly small minority of people who saw perhaps the one movie of the year that makes a case for seeing big-budget sci-fi blockbusters entirely in IMAX 3-D.

What did you see this weekend? Was it the dour World War II epic? The raunchy New Orleans sex comedy? Or the movie where Cara Delevingne shoves her head into a telepathic jellyfish’s butt? Truly, with options like this, anyone who complains about the death of cinema has no idea what they’re talking about. Anyways, here’s the box office numbers through Sunday afternoon:

On the list of companies that garner the most attention and acclaim from toy collectors, you'll find Hot Toys very close to the top. The hyper-realistic offerings from the Hong Kong company do fetch a premium price, but there aren't a lot of competitors that are able to do mixed-media one-sixth scale figures quite like Hot Toys. As always, one of the highlights of San Diego Comic-Con is seeing all the prototypes for upcoming releases at Sideshow Collectibles' (the US distributor for Hot Toys) booth. With Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League, and Star Wars licenses under its belt, Hot Toys SDCC 2017 showings already have us painfully staring at our bank accounts.

Luc Besson’s new sci-fi movie looks absolutely gorgeous, mostly due to the insane amount of worldbuilding it took to create the giant spaceport-like city of Alpha, which houses around a thousand species from all over the galaxy. A new clip introduces us to the City of a Thousand Planets, which is more like the City of a Thousand Weird-Looking Aliens, providing some exposition for our two heroes, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne).

Luc Besson’s passion project, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, arrives in theaters less than two months from now, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still add a member to its cast. Production officially wrapped last June, but Elizabeth Debicki has now joined the film for a voiceover role.

Luc Besson has already dropped two fantastic trailers for his new space opera, but the final trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the most jaw-dropping yet. The first look looked super fun, and second trailer, which I was lucky enough to watch twice in 3D in theater before chatting with Besson himself, was totally dazzling. But this third trailer secures the Fifth Element filmmaker’s latest project as one of the most anticipated movies of the summer.

The calendar may have four seasons, but Hollywood’s calendar only really has two at this point: summer and awards, and summer seems to last longer and longer ever year. Though the start of May has long been the unofficial kickoff of the S.M.S., 2017 has already seen a King Kong movie, a ghost in a shell, and the fate of Fast & Furious franchise. The change from April to May is something of a formality in 2017. Once the Oscars are over, the summer begins.

Could this be the year that Bruce Willis is the key to cinematic universes? M. Night Shyamalan recently announced that he would be making a crossover sequel for both Unbreakable and this year’s Split, and with Luc Besson’s upcoming sci-fi film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets about to hit theaters, more than a few people  —  myself included  —  have wondered if Valerian would make any passing references to Besson’s The Fifth Element. Another small cameo by Bruce Willis at the end, and suddenly he’s the man holding two separate franchises together.

Free Comic Book Day is a fun time of the year for anyone even remotely interested in comics. Companies and stores pick out some select stories that customers can get for free, and some artists and writers even make comics especially for Free Comic Book Day. Luc Besson and the folks behind Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets have put together a sneak peek of their new movie in the form of a preview comic that introduces us to the characters of Valerian and Laureline and details a few of their adventures.

While Luc Besson’s upcoming Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets might look like your usual Hollywood sci-fi production (well, marginally weirder than that, but still), it’s actually an entirely French-made movie. And the most expensive one ever made, at that.