MovieChat Forums > Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) Discussion > I'm betting it'll have "Warcraft"-type s...

I'm betting it'll have "Warcraft"-type success...

posted 7 years ago by lilliiilliiillil
9 replies | jump to latest

Horrible sales and criticism in the US

...But millions of dollars surpassing the budget, internationally.

The Valerian "franchise" has been around since the 1960s in European publications and other media (France's Saturday morning cartoon). That hype alone will make money from that part of the world.

Here in the US? "DuuuuuuH! It looks like Star Wars, it stoopid! it bombs!"...totally clueless that THIS comic was a major inspiration for Star Wars to begin with.

[–] politicidal 7 years ago

Damn right we are clueless! And proud of it, gotdamit! Didnt't the election prove that to ya'll Eurotrash over there?

How was I? Too much or too forced? Too winking?

Whatever you are, be a good one.

[–] tom_mcclarey-3 7 years ago

France is going to earn this film 100s of millions then? Reality check - it won't.

China is a massive market and World of Warcraft is extremely popular over there.

[–] skribb_Mk2 7 years ago

Yeah, it's plausible.

But they have the possiblity to market it with the angle that it's made by the director of 5th element. Which might earn a few head turns in the US.

__________
.and then the bong hits him on the head and he falls RIGHT over the realitY

[–] captainburrito (128) 6 years ago

Where will it do well internationally? France alone is a small market. In the UK I'd never heard of this franchise before. French franchises we like are Asterix. I was a comic book collector as a kid and I've never even seen this for sale in comic stores so I doubt my more mainstream friends would have unless this is a recent thing.

Sci-fi doesn't tend to do that well in China. The new Star Wars movies didn't do well in China as there was no previous fanbase built up from the old movies. It was a visual feast but the actors were abysmall and Chinese audiences have tired of token Chinese characters.

[–] naDaht (1087) 6 years ago

You can't that much of a comic buff. Or maybe it was a hit here in Sweden. The series is highly regarded and the books are expensive as fudge, even pre-owned ones. Maybe not as well known as Asterix, Tintin or The Smurfs but still.

It might be a generation thing though.

[–] Silverman (270) 6 years ago

Never heard of the series. I enjoyed the creativity involved in the setting and species. It sucks that the writing is so predictable and boring. Really could have been great had they gone for something a little different. As it was, I just didn’t care.

[–] naDaht (1087) 6 years ago

If you read the books, you'll find that they inspired a little film called Star Wars. Among other things.

[–] Silverman (270) 6 years ago

Fair enough. I don’t have any preconceptions influencing my opinion of the source material. I think it would have been cool if they had done a mass-effect kind of thing and focused more on geo-galactic politics between races and told the story of humanities integration into a galactic community. If they had toned down the eccentricity a bit and did a real-politik in space, almost like game of thrones - would have been neat and provided many different directions for future expansion.

[–] naDaht (1087) 6 years ago

That's kinda how the books are actually.