The planned mega-franchise then had no chance

With Valerian – The City of a Thousand Planets Luc Besson was allowed to give free rein to his handwriting. He even got one for that years ago unbelievable budget of well over 200 million dollars, which was a disaster at the box office. Valerian, who airs on RTL today at 8:15 p.m., flopped completely. This is particularly unfortunate because the comic templates would have given a new sci-fi franchise.

Watch a German trailer for Valerian here:

A larger series could have emerged from the sci-fi flop Valerian

The bizarre details in Luc Besson’s film, in which, among other things, Cara Delevingne sticks her head in the rear opening of a jellyfish and Rihanna does what is estimated to be a minute-long interlude as a shape-shifting erotic dancer, were probably too special for a larger audience. With a budget of just over $200 million, Valerian only grossed $225 million worldwide. This made the sci-fi production as massive flop posted.

Potential for a bigger franchise was there because Valerian based on a French comic series by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières, which amounted to 24 volumes and several special stories over five decades.

For his sci-fi blockbuster, Besson took volumes 2 and 6 as templates, what plenty of material for more parts left. However, since the film was such a massive flop, don’t get your hopes up too high for a Valerian franchise.

Sci-Fi Movies Podcast: 10 Streaming Tips on Netflix, Amazon & Disney+

If you are looking for even more sci-fi films to stream, in this issue we present 10 film tips that should inspire fans of Matrix, Inception, Dune & Co.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s an insider tip, a classic or a personal favourite: With the various streaming services you can discover fantastic sci-fi films ranging from dystopia to alien invasions, time loops or alien planets.

*. . .

Would you have liked Valerian to be a sci-fi franchise?