Trivia: The welcoming Captains were writers and directors who have worked with Luc Besson.
Trivia: The bounty hunter who follows Valerian is in a bar named Korben's - Korben Dallas was also Bruce Willis' name in The Fifth Element, also directed by Luc Besson.
Trivia: Igon Sirruss tells Valerian "I will find you and I will kill you," to which Valerian replies "Good luck." This dialog exchange is taken almost word-for-word from the film "Taken" as a bit of an inside joke, as "Valerian" director Luc Besson was also the producer and co-writer of the "Taken" film trilogy.
Trivia: In this film, at the start of the Big Market scene, a character named Hawker is told he has a "nice hat" by Laureline. In the 1997 film "The Fifth Element," a mugger is told he has a "very nice hat" by Korben Dallas. Both characters are played by Mathieu Kassovitz. Just a cute little inside joke you might not have noticed the first time.
Trivia: Despite the film being a disappointment at the box office, director Luc Besson has remained optimistic that a sequel could be made. He has stated that his plans for a second film would be a smaller story in terms of scope, and thus the film would cost considerably less than the original.
Trivia: The movie contains over 2700 special effects shots, whereas the Fifth Element featured less than 200.
Trivia: Director Luc Besson waived his salary as he was so keen to get the film made.
Trivia: The film was such a commercial failure that the French motion picture company behind it, EuropaCorp, lost 40% of its stock market value and its deputy CEO had to step down.
Trivia: During the visit to Paradise Alley, watch for an alien that suspiciously looks like Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Trivia: Alex says the spaceship has travelled 700 million miles since leaving Earth 400 years ago - but that would make the ship incredibly slow, as it would not even have passed Saturn, which current probes can do in 10 years.
Trivia: Director Luc Besson was a huge fan of the original comic series, and making the film was one of his dream projects. He first thought about making the film in the mid-90's while working on "The Fifth Element", but opted to push it back due to the daunting visual effects work the movie needed, as he felt that he wouldn't be able to bring the comic to life properly at that time. It wasn't until after the release of James Cameron's "Avatar" over ten years later that Besson felt confident that the film could finally be made. The film finally debuted in 2017 - twenty years after he first seriously considered making it.
Trivia: The film was financed by director Luc Besson, who organized project backers and funding himself. With an estimated budget of somewhere between $180-$200 million, this makes "Valerian" not only the most expensive French film ever made, but also the most expensive independent film ever made as well, as it wasn't produced through traditional studio-funding.
Trivia: Rutger Hauer receives prominent billing in the opening credits... however, he actually has less than sixty seconds of screentime in the entire film, and only appears in one scene during the film's opening ten minutes. He was cast for this cameo due to his notoriety within the sci-fi genre, as a playful homage by director Luc Besson.
Trivia: The film contains a few minor nods and references to director Luc Besson's previous film "The Fifth Element." This is quite fitting, as "The Fifth Element" was partially inspired by the original "Valerian and Laureline" comic books, and Besson even hired the original comic artist to help in the production design department for that film.
Answer: During the movie it is told the humans have been in wars, its possible the economy is in shambles because of a recent war or the drag of a war from the past, perhaps even the war that destroyed planet Mul. Because of the failing economy there are more brothels, scavengers, crimes and it isn't the original space station that left Earth's orbit all those years ago.
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