Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, his passion project that he’d been wanting to make since before The Fifth Element, didn’t do so well in theaters. Did you see it? Probably not. And if you did, you’re in a depressingly small minority of people who saw perhaps the one movie of the year that makes a case for seeing big-budget sci-fi blockbusters entirely in IMAX 3-D.

Besson has said before that he’s got a whole series of these movies planned, if the studio lets him do it — he has the second one all fleshed out already, and is working on a third. Valerian didn’t do so well in theaters this summer, but Besson is still hopeful for his maybe-franchise. He told Italian site BadTaste (via ScreenRant)

What happens today, you know it’s a little different than like 5 or 10 years ago. Because the way people consume the film is very different. Like people are very busy, so they go to the cinema, but you stay on screen like three weeks. Before when I start my movie like Fifth Element or Leon, you stay 12, 15, 20 weeks in theater…Now you stay on screen for like two, three weeks and the VOD very soon, you have the DVD, the TV, so sometimes people they want to see a film and miss it, so they go there. So let’s wait till the end of what we call the first circle. The first circle is really theater, VOD, DVD and to see what is the audience.

He’s got a point: plenty of movies that didn’t pull the box office millions they should have often live on in home video form. That’s how cult classics are born! So, there’s still hope for Besson and his ambitious space opera (but maybe not to the tune of $200 million).

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets hits digital platforms November 7, and the DVD and Blu-ray will be available November 21.

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