The ramifications of the financial failure of Valerian over the summer are being felt at EuropaCorp. The European production company has overseen a slate of films that haven’t struck gold at the box office in the past year, also including Miss Sloane, The Circle and Nine Lives. As a consequence of these assorted box office disappointments, there’s nine figures of red ink to be mopped up.
As such, it’s been revealed that the firm is planning to scale back its filmmaking operations, with a greater onus on television projects in future. Films are still on the agenda, though, and Luc Besson’s next project – costed at around $30m – is set to press ahead. Furthermore, Besson is reported to have completed a script for Lucy 2, a follow-up to his Scarlett Johansson-headlined hit.
In all, $135m in losses were incurred by the company in the last year, with Valerian a significant contributor to that number.