With ‘Valerian And the City of 1,000 Planets’ set to hit theaters this weekend, director Luc Besson (‘The Fifth Element’) is fulfilling a life-long dream in finally bringing the amazing comic series to life. The comic series the new movie is based on, ‘Valerian and Laureline’ by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières, has been running for over fifty years and has influenced science fiction movies as far ranging as ‘The Fifth Element’ (obviously) and ‘Star Wars.’ And with 50 years of material, Besson is ready and willing to build a franchise and keep it going, especially since he was very creative in getting funding for the film, including pre-selling international distribution rights beforehand and raising money from many different sources like private investors, so no one studio is taking that great a risk.
This means that even if the first film does poorly, Besson will not be crucified by anyone in Hollywood upset about losing their money and will be free to try again with the sequel, which he is already moving forward with. While speaking to the Nerdist recently, Besson had to the following to say about working on a sequel:
“I finished the number 2 already and I’m writing the number 3. I don’t know if we will do it, because it’s not up to me. It’s up to the audience if they like it.”
He went on to talk about how his friends warned him about jumping too quickly into working on sequels, especially since the first film had not come out yet and he had no idea how it would be received, but he stated:
“I don’t care, I’m just happy to write it. I’m enjoying writing it. So I don’t even wait. I’m just writing for myself. I finished the [sequel] already, then I [got] bored a month ago, so I said ‘let’s write the third.’”
And apparently, if he got the chance, he would write a lot more than just three, claiming:
“I can write like 15 of them, just for fun.”
What are your thoughts on ‘Valerian and the City of 1,000 Planets’ so far, and do you plan to see it when it opens? Do you think Besson is getting a little ahead of himself with all of this sequel talk? Share your opinions on the matter in the comments below!
