With so many genre films now being crafted as launch points for franchises, the obvious question with any major release ends up being whether or not it did well enough to warrant a sequel. With regard to this summer’s ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’, that question may have just been answered, but not in the way you might’ve expected.
The latest offering from ‘Fifth Element’ director Luc Besson, ‘Valerian’ was nothing if not an ambitious film. A longtime passion project of Besson’s, the film adapted a long running French comic series to the screen. Unfortunately, it also proved to be something of a box office disappointment, a situation that was hardly helped by the film’s decidedly mixed reviews. But as we’ve previously reported, Besson, nonetheless, appears to be holding out hope that the international box office and home video sales will make a sequel viable.
But according to a report in Variety, it seems ‘Valerian’ has prompted EuropaCorp (Besson’s production company) to move forward with at least one sequel, albeit to a completely different project. According to Variety, EuropaCorp’s efforts to rebound from the box office disappointment of ‘Valerian’ include shrinking their slate of films (partly for financial reasons, but also to allow Besson more direct involvement in the company’s efforts) and focusing on the sorts of action and science fiction affairs that have served them well in the past.
This renewed focus on action and sci-fi includes pre-production on a sequel to the production company’s 2014 Scarlett Johansson vehicle, ‘Lucy. Besson had previously indicated that while he has no current plans for a ‘Lucy’ sequel, he would not be opposed to revisiting that story should the right idea come along. Apparently, that day has come, as EuropaCorp head Marc Shmuger has confirmed that Besson has already completed at least one draft of the ‘Lucy 2’ script. Production is expected to begin following the completion of Besson’s next film, described as an “action thriller with a female lead.”
In the meantime, ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’ will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on November 21, 2017.
Are you eager to see a follow up to ‘Lucy’? Let us know in the comments and be sure to check back with ScienceFiction.com for more on the project as it develops!
