The new trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets isn’t set to debut until Wednesday, but the CinemaCon crowd got an early look at Luc Besson’s film — in 3D.
Besson has said after watching Avatar, he threw his original script away out of discouragement. Well, judging by the 3D screened at CinemaCon, the director has found a very worthwhile use of 3D, with the trailer showing off wild aliens and immersive worlds not quite like what has been seen on screen since 2009’s Avatar.
Besson’s sci-fi adaptation stars Dane DeHaan as time-traveling hero Valerian and Cara Delevingne as his love interest and partner, Laureline. Besson and Delevingne were onhand to speak after the trailer.
Besson said he became obsessed with the comic when he was 10, saying “I never stopped thinking about it.”
He actually worked with Valerian creator Jean-Claude Mézières on The Fifth Element for six months, and the comic creator told Besson, “Why are you doing this stupid f—king Ffith Element and not Valerian?”
“My answer at the time is it’s not possible. There were only two characters and like 1,000 characters,” Besson said. “This young director Jim Cameron just made the technology possible after Avatar and thanks to him, imagination is the limit.”
A first trailer for the adaptation of the 1960s-era French comic book was released in November.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets opens July 21.
