Having scored a surprise box office smash in last summer's Lucy, director/screenwriter Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional) has revealed the name of his next sci-fi venture: Valérian And The City Of A Thousand Planets - due for release July 21, 2017. Based on a French comic-book series created in 1967, the movie appears to be somewhat of a passion project for Besson, who took to social media for the first time last week to discuss what he called "the biggest challenge of [his] career":
Hello everyone – As you probably noticed I’m not really the king of social media, it’s, in fact, my first day on it. Why...
Posted by Luc Besson on Tuesday, 12 May 2015
The film is set to star The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Dane DeHaan as 'Valerian', a space and time travelling agent from a futuristic Earth. Alongside DeHaan will be Cara Delevigne, due to star in WB/DC's highly anticipated Suicide Squad film next year. A rising star in Hollywood right now, Delevigne will play the titular hero's red-haired companion, 'Laureline'.
The original Valérian and Laurine graphic novel is said to have influenced one of Besson's earlier features, The Fifth Element - along with the original Star Wars series. Given the pedigree of those movies, alongside Besson's body of work, this looks like a project worth keeping an eye on. What do you think? Are you a fan of the comic? As always, let us know down below!