Tonight on TV: 200 million budget, it is the most expensive French film in history and a financial disaster for Luc Besson

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets : an overly ambitious adaptation by Luc Besson?

Luca Besson he often demonstrated excessive ambition. Yes, when he boarded The fifth element (1997), the French director imagined an entire fantasy universe in an era when digital effects were in full development and still very expensive. The director has therefore spared no means to offer impressive battles Giovanna D’Arco (1999). Before making the trilogy Arthur and the Minimoys (2006, 2009, 2010) using 3D animation. It is therefore always with the same madness of grandeur that the director proposes Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)adaptation of the comic Valérian et Laureline, drawn by Jean-Claude Mézières and written by Pierre Christin.

A work that had strongly influenced Luc Besson at the time of its creation The fifth element. There was therefore a certain coherence in seeing him tackle this work. Taking up the plot of the comic The Shadow Ambassador (1975), follows the film the space-time agents Valérian and Laureline, responsible for maintaining order in human territories. A new mission takes them to an ever-expanding intergalactic metropolis: the City of a Thousand Planets. Even though this place is home to millions of species that share knowledge, culture and technologies, a dark force will threaten the city. During their mission, the two will discover a plot much more complex than imagined.

Bring Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planetswith which Luc Besson offered himself a fairly large cast Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne in the two main roles. Alongside them we find Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, but also an appearance byAlain Chabat, unrecognizable as Pirate Bob. However, all this has a cost, just like the special effects, sets and costumes used to reproduce this universe.

A worldwide box office failure

Self The fifth element at the time it had cost the equivalent of 75 million euros, Luc Besson broke this record spending 197 million euros For Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, thanks above all to co-production with China and the United States. An impressive figure, much higher Asterix at the Olympic Games (75 million) e Miraculous, the film (80 million), released in 2008 and 2023 respectively. Which therefore makes it thethe most expensive French film in history. Before that, the director had achieved considerable success thanks to Lucia, which grossed more than $460 million worldwide (on an estimated budget of €50 million). Unfortunately, Valerian it was not as successful as hoped.

Only with Raised 225 million dollars worldwide, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets was a huge financial failure. The film fell far short of expectations first and foremost on the American market (only $40 million in revenue), but also in China. Despite the success of the first week ($50 million), the feature then collapsed in its second week of release with a drop of 80%.

The consequences for EuropaCorp

This disappointing score had a direct impact on EuropaCorp, the production company co-founded by Luc Besson. And this, despite the filmmaker’s declarations, which he assures Daily screen That the risk was minimal for the company : “Like all production companies, we only greenlight a project if at least 80% of the budget is covered. For Valérian, we covered 96% with pre-sales. (…) The risk for EuropaCorp is therefore 4% of the balance sheet, so in fact there is no risk. This is more of a reputational risk. If the film turns out to be a big flop, we will no longer have the confidence to do this type of project. It is therefore not so much a financial risk as a human risk“.

But in reality the value of EuropaCorp has collapsed on the stock market a 40% drop in the stock between the beginning of 2017 and October 7, the date of publication of the article Capital. The specialized finance article then explained that “after a record net loss of 120 million euros in the 2016-2017 financial yearValérian represented a great challenge for the group, which had to rebuild its financial health and hoped, if successful, to launch a new franchise with several episodes of Valérian’s adventuresA few months later, the AFP (via the New Obs) announced that EuropaCorp would “eliminate about a quarter of its workforce in France“, or 22 of the 79 jobs.

In 2019, EuropaCorp was placed under safeguard proceedings by the Bobigny Commercial Court due to its financial situation. Note that the company’s losses were already significant before Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but the film’s failure undeniably had a significant impact. So, in 2020, the company was purchased by the American company Vine Alternative Investmentswhich became the majority shareholder with 59.9%.

Source: Cine Serie

Ray

Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.