As we reported, Besson boarded the project as writer and director in 2012. My colleague Todd Brown described the series thusly: "Created in 1967 by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mezieres, Valerian follows the exploits of a stranded space-time police officer from the future and his companion from the past."
The film is set to begin shooting early in 2016. Deadline says that the director showed a select crop of press early storyboards for the movie during Comic-Con in July:
There are only five major human characters and dozens of crazy-looking creatures, and we hear he's already clearing space in his Paris studio because he's going to need all the soundstages. Besson didn't reveal the film's plot, only the world he is building, and it looked exquisite. He told us that he thought he had the script ready several years ago, but tore it up after watching Avatar and realizing he had a lot more work to do. Now, he is ready.
Besson's action movie Lucy became an international blockbuster last year, earning more than $450 million at the box office, which has, one imagines, bolstered his ability to take a chance on a high-budget movie like Valerian. Perhaps we'll see it in 2017?