Following his last directorial feature, Lucy (2015), Luc Besson returns to set with an adaptation of the early-70’s French comic, Empire of a Thousand Planets. In Besson’s film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the two heroes, Valerian and Laureline, are sent to investigate an intergalactic empire to determine whether or not they are a threat.
The title references volume two of an ongoing series, Valérian and Laureline, started in 1967 and ended in 2010, originated by Pierre Christin. The characters and the universes they explore influenced and shaped a lot of what we find familiar in the genres of science fiction and fantasy, similar to the influence of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter.
The trailer features Valerian (Dane DeHaan, Chronicle) and Laureline (Cara Delevinge, Paper Towns) running between otherworldly set pieces as well as short appearances from other cast members, including Rihanna. Other cast members include Clive Owen (Children of Men), Ethan Hawke (In the Valley of Violence), Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), the voice of John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane), and many more.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets lands July 21, 2017.
