Luc Besson's VALERIAN is The Most Expensive French Movie Ever Made

By now, I'm sure you've seen the trailers for Luc Besson's dazzling new sci-fi epic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. But I just learned that Besson's upcoming film is the most expensive French film in cinematic history.

The Playlist brings word from Cineuropa, who reports that The Fifth Element director's flashy, colorful new movie cost €197.47 million (about $210 million) to make. That crushes the country's previous record, which was only around $82 million.

Besson is very hit-or-miss as a director, but I'm hoping Valerian delivers on the promise of its original graphic novel and the wild, fun-looking trailers we've seen so far. We'll find out if the film can earn back that record-breaking budget when it debuts on July 21, 2017.