Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) on Netflix
PG-1320172h 16mActionAdventureFantasy
In the 28th century, Valerian and Laureline work for the United Human Federation. Alpha, a space-traveling city of species from hundreds of planets, is menaced by a force at its center.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.4/10211,547 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes47%
Trailer
Plot summary
Partners in the United Human Federation police, Valerian and Laureline are stationed on Alpha, a space-traveling city where species from hundreds of planets live together. Valerian dreams of Mül, a low-tech world whose people harvest energy-bearing pearls with a small animal's help. A huge craft crashes there and wipes the planet; princess Lihö-Minaa sends a telepathic message as she dies. Tasked with retrieving the last of the Mül converters from the dealer Igon Siruss, the pair meet two hooded figures in a marketplace on Kirian, in another dimension. They take the converter, and Valerian pockets an energy pearl. Mül, they learn, was destroyed thirty years earlier and the records are classified. On Alpha, commander Arün Filitt reports that the station's center is irradiated and toxic, and the two are told to safeguard him at a summit.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The first trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets used the Beatles song "Because", the first time a Beatles master recording had been licensed for a film advertisement.
- While developing The Fifth Element, Luc Besson hired Valérian illustrator Jean-Claude Mézières, who asked him why he was making "this shitty film" instead of adapting Valerian; Besson thought the alien-to-human ratio made it impossible.
- Luc Besson independently financed and personally funded the film, and with a production budget of around $180 million it is both the most expensive European and the most expensive independent film ever made.
- The release of James Cameron's Avatar convinced Luc Besson that technically anything could be done, but also that his own script was not good enough, so he rewrote it.
- Because Valerian was filmed in English, Luc Besson could not claim French tax credits even though he wanted to shoot in France and create jobs for 1,200 crew members, and the tax credit criteria were later adapted.
- The official Valerian soundtrack album, released on vinyl, CD and download, has a total duration of exactly 137 minutes, precisely the same number of minutes as the film itself.
- The Pearls, the film's humanoid alien race, were completely synthetic creations by Weta Digital, generated from performances by actors wearing motion-capture equipment on their faces and bodies.
- In China, Valerian made $9.9 million on its first day from 78,000 screens, becoming the first film to displace Wolf Warrior 2 at the country's box office.
