The huge success of Lucy reminded everyone that Luc Besson can have huge success as a director after several years where he mainly seemed to be a purveyor of no brain action that he wrote and/or produced, such as The Transporter and Taken.
Now he’s heading back into the director’s chair for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, based on the Belgian science fiction comic book characters Valérian and Laureline, created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres.
He’s already signed up his first cast members, with with Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne set to star in the central roles.
Valérian and Laureline are 28th Century agents working for the Galaxity organization, whose adventures take them across time and space. However after Galaxity and their home planet disappear, they are left to forge a future on their own.
With the ‘City of a Thousand Planets’ subtitle, it certainly sounds like this Besson is hoping to build this into a franchise. Production is set to begin at the end of this year with a global release slated for summer 2017.