News

Poor box office performance of English-language slate, including Miss Sloane and The Circle, to blame.

Luc Besson’s mini-major EuropaCorp has posted a company record losses of $136m (€119.9m) for the 2016-17 financial year.

In a statement released in Paris on Wednesday morning (July 28), the company said consolidated revenue rose 3% to $171m (€151.7m) but net operating cash flows had fallen dramatically to $2.7m (€2.4m) for 2016-17, down from $92m (€81m) in the previous financial year.

The slight increase in consolidated revenue had been driven by foreign sales and an increase in Svod and TV sales to the Us, EuropaCorp said.

EuropaCorp had already officially announced in February that the company would post losses in 2016-17 that were “substantially higher” than losses in previous financial years. The company did not give further details but local media and entertainment analysts suggested a figure of around €35m ($39m).

The company said the losses were due mainly to the poor box...

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Common, Claudia Gerini, Lance Reddick, Laurence Fishburne, Tobias Segal, John Leguizamo | Written by Derek Kolstad | Directed by Chad Stahelski

2014′s John Wick took pretty much everyone by surprise. The third in a trilogy of action movies Keanu Reeves made in 2013/4, John Wick succeeded where 47 Ronin and The Man of Tai Chi (in which Reeves played the villain) didn’t. And that’s not to say that either of those films were sub-par, far from it. However there was something about the stoic, unstoppable hitman John Wick that resonated with audiences across the globe. And so three years later we finally get a sequel.

From the same writer/director team as the first film, Derek Kolstad and Chad Stahelski respectively, John Wick: Chapter 2 picks up where the first film left off. Literally. John heads back to the gang who stole his...

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Common, Claudia Gerini, Lance Reddick, Laurence Fishburne, Tobias Segal, John Leguizamo | Written by Derek Kolstad | Directed by Chad Stahelski

2014′s John Wick took pretty much everyone by surprise. The third in a trilogy of action movies Keanu Reeves made in 2013/4, John Wick succeeded where 47 Ronin and The Man of Tai Chi (in which Reeves played the villain) didn’t. And that’s not to say that either of those films were sub-par, far from it. However there was something about the stoic, unstoppable hitman John Wick that resonated with audiences across the globe. And so three years later we finally get a sequel.

From the same writer/director team as the first film, Derek Kolstad and Chad Stahelski respectively, John Wick Chapter 2 picks up where the first film left off. Literally. John heads back to the gang who stole his car...

Of all the potential blockbusters on the release calendar, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is arguably the most tantalizing. It's an adaptation of a French comic book series about time travel agents who visit the capital of a vast planetary system to determine whether it might prove to be a danger to Earth. What makes the movie so potentially exciting is that Luc Besson is directing. Besson is a prolific filmmaker who may be best known for his head-spinning work as a producer and/or writer of action movie series like the Taken, Taxi and Transporter franchises. As a director, he most recently hit it big worldwide with the trippy and very fun Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson. He's often played around with fantasy and sci-fi themes in his movies, most notably...

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Of all the potential blockbusters on the release calendar, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is arguably the most tantalizing. It's an adaptation of a French comic book series about time travel agents who visit the capital of a vast planetary system to determine whether it might prove to be a danger to Earth. What makes the movie so potentially exciting is that Luc Besson is directing. Besson is a prolific filmmaker who may be best known for his head-spinning work as a producer and/or writer of action movie series like the Taken, Taxi and Transporter franchises. As a director, he most recently hit it big worldwide with the trippy and very fun Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson. He's often played around with fantasy and sci-fi themes in his movies, most notably...

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Luc Besson's EuropaCorp has announced a fifth film in the Marseilles-set Taxi franchise. A release for Taxi 5 is set for January 31, 2018, Europa said via Twitter. Franck Gastambide is directing the latest installment and penning the script with Ahmed Hamidi, and the participation of Malik Bentalha. Gastambide directed and co-wrote Gaumont's hit comedy Pattaya from earlier this year. He also starred with Bentalha and the duo is expected to lead the cast for the new Taxi…...

Luc Besson's EuropaCorp has announced a fifth film in the Marseilles-set Taxi franchise. A release for Taxi 5 is set for January 31, 2018, Europa said via Twitter. Franck Gastambide is directing the latest installment and penning the script with Ahmed Hamidi, and the participation of Malik Bentalha. Gastambide directed and co-wrote Gaumont's hit comedy Pattaya from earlier this year. He also starred with Bentalha and the duo is expected to lead the cast for the new Taxi…...

It's funny how someone can have a day in the press that's both terrible and terrific. Take Luc Besson, for example. Today's first story about him is thrilling because I've been waiting for him to get back to science-fiction for a while. Last April, he told me during a conversation at WonderCon that he felt like he made "The Fifth Element" at the wrong time. "We had digital, but it wasn't like it is now. We still had to build everything first," he told me, and having seen some of the "Fifth Element" models in person at Digital Domain, I know what he meant. They used digital compositing and digital mattes more than almost any film made before that moment, but it was still largely a model-based shoot, and all of the aliens in the film were on-set suits and make-ups. I think it's a beautiful movie, but Besson talked...

Stripped and chopped for parts, the Transporter trilogy could be reassembled into a single solid (and undoubtedly short) action movie. The first one had a fight scene where Jason Statham whirled around poles and through grease like a lethal Magic Mike; the second featured cinema’s first aerial undercarriage bomb disposal; the third contrived a reason to always keep Statham within 75 feet of the franchise’s real star, an Audi automobile. As a whole, however, the three movies were a shoddy refurbishing of American gearhead actioneers into Euro-thriller jalopies. Returning sans Statham, avec everything else, The Transporter: Refueled makes a poor case for rescuing this series from the scrapheap.

Though the franchise has been kept on dialysis via a TV series for a couple years, this is the first “Transporter” property to be produced by series-creator Luc Besson since 2008’s Transporter 3. That same year, Besson unleashed the Taken franchise on the world,...

Stars: Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard, Manuela Gourary, Emma Sjöberg, Bernard Farcy, Georges Neri, Dan Herzberg, Sébastien Thiery, Philippe du Janerand | Written by Luc Besson | Directed by Gérard Pirès

Classic high-octane car chase thriller Taxi, created by renowned writer/director/producer Luc Besson, is cult action comedy about a speed freak taxi driver who is forced to make a deal with the police or lose his licence. The film has spawned three sequels, an American remake and a TV series which has sadly not found a UK broadcaster as yet. Now the original film, which introduced the world to high speed car chases and gallic action, hits Blu-ray courtesy of Second Sight, in a new high-def transfer that makes the film look as fresh and exciting today as it did on its debut in 1998.

Like a lot of more modern Besson movies, the plot of Taxi is relatively simple:...

Studios are always keen to squeeze sequels out of success stories, and filmmaker Luc Besson and his EuropaCorp company have been as guilty of that as anyone. Films he produced like "Taken," "The Transporter" and "Taxi" have all been turned into franchises, while his own "La Femme Nikita" has spawned film and TV remakes.

Yet his most recent success story, the Scarlett Johansson-led "Lucy," won't be getting a follow-up according to him. In a recent interview with Want China Times (via The Playlist), Besson says he's open to the possibility but there are zero plans for one at the moment and he can't see how to do one:

"I don't see how we can do [a sequel]. It's not made for that. If I find something good enough, maybe I will, but for now I don't even think about it."

It does beg the question, what idea would be 'good enough' for him to move forward.

In the course of his career, Luc Besson has produced the following: two "Taken" films (with a third on the way); three "Transporter" movies, along with a TV show based on the movie, plus a feature length reboot "The Transporter Legacy" coming next year; "Nikita"; the Hollywood remake "Point Of No Return" in addition to a TV series; four "Taxi" movies; three "Arthur" movies....you see where we're going. So when he says that there's no possibility of a followup to this summer's surprise hit "Lucy," you can see why we're taking his claim with a grain of salt. The writer/director/producer says that the Scarlett Johansson-starring "Lucy" saga begins and ends with the movie that dropped this summer. ”I don't see how we can do [a sequel]. It's not made for that,” Besson told the Taiwanese press. “If I find something good enough, maybe I will, but for now...

Director: Luc Besson; Screenwriter: Luc Besson; Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Analeigh Tipton; Running time: 89 mins; Certificate: 15

Luc Besson flits very easily between the sublime and the ridiculous, gifting the world with Léon in the early days of his career before proceeding to make visually striking, utterly silly action thrillers like The Fifth Element, Taxi and The Transporter series (as writer/producer). Lucy falls squarely into the second category; a screwball sci-fi caper with Besson going full speed ahead into far-out territory. Perversely though, it's that willingness to stretch beyond all logic and reason that keeps you watching.

His opening gambit is a damned good one, however, with Scarlett Johansson's titular American college girl getting roped into a drugs smuggling deal by her latest squeeze in Taipei, clueless about the contents of the briefcase he chains to her wrist. Besson milks every bit...

Over the course of his dozen-plus films as a writer-director, Parisian auteur Luc Besson has become known for his stylish inversions of schlock genre fare and a certain, shall we call it, Vive la femme attitude toward women.

Time and again, his movies place emotionally fragile female characters in physically perilous situations: a conflicted hit-woman struggling with the perils of her job in 1990’s La Femme Nikita, 12-year old Natalie Portman on the run as an assassin-in-training in The Professional, and Milla Jovovich’s universe-saving alien Leeloo in The Fifth Element (1997) among them. Besson’s latest multiplex offering appears set to follow that template.

Chicago – In the highly anticipated sci-fi “Lucy,” Scarlett Johansson turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the new film!

“Lucy,” which is rated “R” and opens on July 25, 2014, also stars Morgan Freeman, Min-sik Choi, Analeigh Tipton, Amr Waked, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Pilou Asbæk from acclaimed writer and director Luc Besson (“Transporter” films, “Taken” films, “Taxi” films, “The Fifth Element”). Note: You must be 17+ to win and attend this “R”-rated screening.

To win your free “Lucy” passes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our social media widget below. That’s it! This screening is on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. The more social actions you complete, the more points you score and the higher yours odds of winning!

Earlier this year, NBC acquired Us broadcast rights to the Luc Besson-produced action comedy series "Taxi: Brooklyn South," a 12-episode TV project that stars Chyler Leigh ("Grey's Anatomy") and Jacky Ido (maybe best known in the USA as Marcel in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds"). Olivier Megaton directed the first 2 episodes of the series which was produced by Besson's company, EuropaCorp, and which is based on the French action comedy film franchise set in Marseille, where a cab driver with a very fast taxi helps out a police officer in his investigations - usually involving criminals with very fast cars! Bring on the...

Earlier this year, NBC acquired Us broadcast rights to the Luc Besson-produced action comedy series "Taxi: Brooklyn South," a 12-episode TV project that stars Chyler Leigh ("Grey's Anatomy") and Jacky Ido (maybe best known in the USA as Marcel in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds"). Olivier Megaton directed the first 2 episodes of the series which was produced by Besson's company, EuropaCorp, and which is based on the French action comedy film franchise set in Marseille, where a cab driver with a very fast taxi helps out a police officer in his investigations - usually involving criminals with very fast cars! Bring on the epic car chases. Four...

As part of EuropaCorp‘s continued expansion, the French studio has named veteran executive producer Matthew Gross as President of EuropaCorp Television, U.S. Gross (Body Of Proof, Dirty Sexy Money) will lead the company’s development and production slate for the American market, while also taking an active role in production. EuropaCorp Television was founded in 2010 and now has credits that include international mini Flight Of The Storks and series No Limit. With the U.S. expansion, it will pursue co-productions with outside studios on a project-by-project basis. NBC recently acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to Ectv’s Taxi Brooklyn for a summer debut. The 12-episode action/comedy series is based on EuropaCorp founder Luc Besson‘s Taxi feature franchise. The hiring of Gross comes on the heels of Europa’s Cannes announcement that it has signed a $450M credit facility to build its slate of English-language features that will go through Red,...

Unifrance has released the results of a study on image of French cinema across the world.

French film export agency Unifrance, which fetes its 65th anniversary this year, has released the results of a study on image of French cinema across the globe and the findings are surprising.

“French cinema is the second most exported cinema in the world after that of the Us,” said Unifrance president Jean-Paul Salomé.

According to the study the nations most fond of French cinema were Russia, Germany, the Us and Britain.

The most cited French films were Amélie, Untouchables, Taxi, Léon, Amour, The Artist, The Pianist and Welcome to the Sticks.

Interestingly, the French stars with the biggest international reputations belonged to an older generation.

In order, Gerard Depardieu came on top, followed by Jean Reno, Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Tautou as the best known French acting names internationally.

The best-known...

News

AMC has ordered a pilot for a Kevin Smith talk show. The weekly show would adapt Smith’s podcast Hollywood Babble-On for TV which Smith describes as “Entertainment Tonight but filthy.”

Think you’ve seen Kit Harington naked thanks to that Game of Thrones scene in that rock pool? In a GQ profile, Harrington admits that scene featured a butt double. “I had a broken ankle… so the only time you saw my ass, it wasn’t my ass.” Instead a crew member with curly black hair and a great backside was asked to get a haircut to match Harrington and fill in.

The abs are definitely real, tho.

Get ready for another Joss Whedon alum to show up on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Amy Acker will appear as a woman with a key role in Agent Coulson‘s past, reports TV Guide.

Lisa Vanderpump discussed with The...

NBC has rounded out its summer schedule, and it's going to include a lot more original scripted series than in years past.

The network will roll out six scripted shows -- two dramas, three comedies and an "action-comedy" cop show -- and one new unscripted show to go along with returning series "America's Got Talent," "American Ninja Warrior" and "Last Comic Standing."

The full summer schedule (all times Eastern/Pacific):

Thursday, May 22

9 p.m. "Last Comic Standing" (two hours)

Tuesday, May 27

8 p.m. "America's Got Talent" (two hours)

10 p.m. "The Night Shift"

Thursday, May 29

9 p.m. "Undateable" (back-to-back episodes each week)

Friday, May 30

10 p.m. "Crossbones"

Wednesday, June 25

10 p.m. "Taxi Brooklyn"

Thursday, July 10

9 p.m. "Welcome to Sweden"

9:30 p.m. "Working the Engels"

Tuesday, July 22

8 p.m. "Food Fighters"

The new shows:

"The Night Shift" follows the doctors and nurses who work the overnight hours at a San Antonio hospital.

NBC is adding an original hourlong action-dramedy series for summer. As the broadcast networks shift to more year-round original scripted fare, the network has picked up EuropaCorp Television's Taxi Brooklyn and scheduled it for the summer. The 12-episode action-dramedy stars Grey's Anatomy alum Chyler Leigh and is based on Luc Besson's feature film Taxi. The series was shot in English on location in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Photos: Broadcast TV's Returning Shows 2014-15 The series centers on Leigh's Cat Sullivan, who grew up wanting to follow in the footsteps of her father, a New York police

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NBC has acquired Us broadcast rights to the Luc Besson-produced action comedy series Taxi : Brooklyn South, a 12 episode TV project that stars Chyler Leigh (Grey's Anatomy) and Jacky Ido (maybe best known in the USA as Marcel in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds) will have a role. Olivier Megaton directed the first 2 episodes of the series which was produced by Besson's company, EuropaCorp, and which is based on the French action comedy film franchise set in Marseille, where a cab driver with a very fast taxi helps out a police officer in his investigations - usually involving criminals with very fast cars! Bring on the epic car chases. Four...

NBC has acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to EuropaCorp Television‘s Taxi Brooklyn for a summer debut. The 12-episode action/comedy series is produced by showrunner Gary Scott Thompson (Las Vegas, The Fast And The Furious) and based on Luc Besson‘s Taxi feature franchise. It stars Grey’s Anatomy alumna Chyler Leigh and Jacky Ido (Inglourious Basterds). Former Blue Bloods co-star Jennifer Esposito, Ally Walker (Profiler), James Colby (Person Of Interest), Bill Heck (Pan Am), Jose Zuniga (Body Of Proof) and Raul Casso (Blue Bloods) round out the cast. Formerly known as Taxi: Brooklyn South, Taxi Brooklyn was shot in English in the titular borough along with Manhattan and Queens. Leigh plays Detective Caitlyn “Cat” Sullivan, who is determined to find the truth about the death of her father, an NYPD detective who was killed in the line of duty. When her stubborn character and recklessness behind...

Chyler Leigh, Jacky Ido, Jennifer Esposito, Ally Walker, James Colby and Bill Heck are set to the lead the cast of the 12-episode TF1 drama series "Taxi: Brooklyn South"

Based on Luc Besson's "Taxi" action film franchise, Gary Scott Thompson ("The Fast and the Furious") penned the script and serves as showrunner.

Leigh plays Caitlyn Sullivan, a brilliant but stubborn and reckless Brooklyn investigator who is an outcast within the NYPD.

She teams with Marseille-born NY cabbie Leo Romba to form the most improbable and efficient partnership to solve crimes and mysteries around Brooklyn.

Olivier Megaton ("Taken 2") will direct the first two episodes of the series. Shooting started in New York last week.

Source: Deadline...

Taxi: Brooklyn South, a 12-episode TF1 drama series set and filming in the U.S., has assembled a cast of familiar American TV names. Grey’s Anatomy alumna Chyler Leigh and Jacky Ido (Inglorious Basterds) are set as the leads in the project, based on Luc Besson’s Taxi feature franchise. Former Blue Bloods co-star Jennifer Esposito, Ally Walker (Profiler), James Colby (Body Of Proof), Bill Heck (Person Of Interest), Jose Zuniga and Raul Casso round out the cast of the series, written by Gary Scott Thompson (The Fast And The Furious) who serves as showrunner. Shooting started in New York last week without U.S. distribution locked in yet, something the producers from EuropaCorp and TF1 plan to pursue when they have a finished product in hand. Taxi: Brooklyn South centers on Caitlyn Sullivan (Leigh), a brilliant investigator at the Brooklyn Police Station whose stubborn character and...

Cannes - French action director Oliver Megaton, whose credits include global box office hits Taken 2 and Colombiana, has become the latest big budget feature helmer to move to TV, signing up to direct Taxi Brooklyn South, an action-comedy series based on Luc Besson's Taxi film franchise. Stephen Tolkin, a producer/writer on ABC's Brothers & Sisters and TNT's Perception, will write and executive produce the first 12-episode season of Taxi Brooklyn South. Besson's EuropaCorp Television and French commercial network TF1 are co-producing.  Photos: Rape Jokes, F-Bombs and More: 11 Most Talked-About 'Mad Men' Season 6 Premiere

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Our friend and one of our favorite actresses, Marion Cotillard, is on her way to be nominated for “Best Actress” for her performance in “Rust and Bone.” This coming January 10th the Academy Awards will announce the nominees for the Oscars. We strongly believe that Marion will be one of them. Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard is internationally renowned for her unbridled commitment to her art, challenging herself with each new role. Cotillard is starring in Jacques Audiard’s “Rust and Bone,” alongside Matthias Schoenaerts, Bouli Lanners and Céline Sallette. The film was co-written by Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain and adapted from the acclaimed book of short stories by Craig Davidson. Cotillard recently wrapped production on director and co-writer James Gray’s “Untitled James Gray Project,” starring opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner. The film focuses on ‘Ewa Cybulska,’ (Cotillard) and her sister, ‘Magda,’ who sail to Ellis Island in the early twentieth century,...

Movie Review: "Taken 2"; Star Cast: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace; Director: Olivier Megaton; Rating: *** - entertaining replay of the original.

Frech cinema director - and now Hollywood writer and producer - Luc Besson has been a consistent master of the stylized action genre. With clockwork-like precision he has written and produced some of the most famous action series of the last decade, be it the "Transporter", "Taxi" or now the "Taken" series.

Liam Neeson, who was 56 in 2008 when the original "Taken" came out, was the last guy one would have thought to have.

Marion Cotillard will receive a career tribute at the Independent Filmmaker Project's 22nd annual Gotham Independent Film Awards ceremony Monday, Nov. 26, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. "Marion Cotillard is not only a delight to watch, she is one of the most talented women working in cinema around the world today," said Ifp executive director Joana Vincente. "We are so honored to present this tribute to a woman of her magnitude." Previously announced Gotham tributees include Matt Damon, David O. Russell and Participant Media founder Jeff Skoll. Cotillard's extensive credits include Luc Besson's "Taxi" film series, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "A Very Long Engagement," Rob Marshall's "Nine," Christopher Nolan's "Inception," Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion" and Christopher Nolan’s "The...

HollywoodNews.com: The 16th Annual Hollywood Film Awards, presented by the "Los Angeles Times," announce that Academy Award winning actress Marion Cotillard will receive the "Hollywood Actress Award" for her distinguished performance in Jacques Audiard's "Rust and Bone," a Sony Pictures Classics release, at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala ceremony on October 22. "We are honored that Ms. Cotillard will be the recipient of this year's 'Hollywood Actress Award.' It is a privilege to honor her great talent, as well as her outstanding performance in "Rust and Bone," said awards founder and executive director, Carlos de Abreu. Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard is internationally renowned for her unbridled commitment to her art, challenging herself with each new role. This November, Cotillard will be seen starring in Jacques Audiard's "Rust and Bone," alongside Matthias Schoenaerts, Bouli Lanners and Céline Sallette. The film was co-written by Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain...

Telluride - Actress Marion Cotillard didn't really explode onto the domestic film stage until "La Vie en Rose," but what a coming out it was. She managed to win an Oscar that few (ahem) saw coming and transformed that newfound respect and goodwill into a thriving Hollywood career, but it was hardly an overnight success story. Cotillard had already seen plenty of success in her native France before that 2007 explosion. She starred in Arnaud Desplechin's "My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument," Pierre Grimblat's "Lisa" and the "Taxi" action comedy trilogy -- earning plenty of recognition for...

A new trailer has arrived for Taken 2 with Liam Neeson, being a bad ass….as is the norm with him these days. Some new footage in this trailer, with some very Luc Besson Taxi style cab driving. The original movie was somewhat of a surprise to many and as long as they keep to the formula that has been so successful then Taken 2 is ripe for the…taking…..sorry. Either way, looks great! Via Yahoo Movies Synopsis: In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter. Released: October 5th (Ire / UK / USA)...

Nowadays Luc Besson spends most of his time writing and producing action movies aimed at the International market. He’s also directed the “Arthur” movies for the home crowd, but unless you live in France or thereabouts, you’ve probably never heard of them, as they haven’t really gained traction Stateside. Besson’s latest movie, though, will take him into outer space — and possibly back in time. The writer/director/producer of the “Taken” and “Taxi” franchises, to name just two, has acquired the rights to “Valerian”, a sci-fi French comic book by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres from the late ’60s. The books follow the “adventures of space- and time-traveling agent Valerian and femme sidekick Laureline”, and Besson will write and direct the big-screen version. Besson, who last went into outer space in the 1997 sci-fi epic “The Fifth Element”, has been a fan of “Valerian” for a long time,...

Luc Besson is heading back into outer space. The prolific producer of action movies like the “Taken”, “Taxi”, and “Transporter” franchises (to name just a dozen he’s been involved in over the years) is stepping back behind the camera for “Valerian”, a film that will be based on the sci-fi comic book of the same name by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres. The last time Besson wandered into outer space was the sci-fi action movie “The Fifth Element” in 1997, a film that he recruited Mezieres to work on. Now Besson will write and direct Mezieres’ “Valerian”, which is about “the adventures of space- and time-traveling agent Valerian and femme sidekick Laureline.” I’m sure there’s more to the plot than that. Probably lots of fighting, space battlin’, and such. “Valerian”, originally created in 1967, is a French comic book, so if you’ve never heard of it, that’s probably why.

Once-in-a-lifetime experiences abounded at this year’s Sonoma International Film Festival, a boutique event in the heart of northern California’s wine country – complete with complementary wine and cheese before every screening (and a trailer featuring an animated, tap-dancing wine bottle named Tipsy whose tagline read, “Is everything out of focus, or is it just me?”). Held early April, a week apart and an hour’s drive – yet a world away – from that longest running festival in the U.S., Siff serves as a worthy reminder that attending non-market-driven fests not only allows one the opportunity to discover overlooked diamonds amongst the seemingly rough cuts, but to enjoy chance encounters that have been programmed out of the older and slicker fests. While the films themselves might not have the cachet associated with the big boy on the Bay (save perhaps for the opening and closing night bookended Luc Besson flicks,...

Universal Pictures has acquired 80% of the worldwide distribution rights to Luc Besson and Angelina Jolie's forthcoming movie. Jolie was last reported to be in talks for the untitled, large-scale dramatic thriller. Filming on the movie is due to begin in Paris in April 2012, at EuropaCorp's new 'Les Studio de Paris' production facilities. Jolie will need to complete filming on the Taxi and Transporter director's project before she takes on her role in Ridley Scott's (more)...

Angelina Jolie has entered talks for Luc Besson's next project. The star is in "serious talks" for the untitled, large-scale dramatic thriller, reports Deadline. If she is to join the Taxi and Transporter director's upcoming project, Jolie will have to film it before she takes on her role in Ridley Scott's Gertrude Bell biopic. Besson is currently working on his Aung San Suu Kyi biopic The Lady, which has seen star Michelle (more)...

Chicago – For every instance of “monumental” history, there are a series of events surrounding it that gets swept under the rug, but have the same bearing as the bigger occurrence. Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner tells one of those background stories in “Sarah’s Key,” a sorrowful piece of French history during World War II.

The centerpiece in the film is the Vel´d’Hiv incident, a round-up of Jewish people in Paris during the Nazi occupation there. The Vel´d’Hiv was a sports stadium, and French officials put the captured Jews into the arena without sufficient food, water and facilities. One character likened it to the New Orleans Superdome during the Katrina Hurricane crisis, but “a million times” worse.

French director Gilles Paquet-Brenner adapted Sarah’s Key from a popular novel that uses the Vel´d’Hiv as a launching point for the tortured story of Sarah Starzynski, who at...

French star Samy Naceri was arrested at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday after baring his bottom in front of tourists, it has been reported. On the final day of the historic festival, the 49-year-old actor - who is best known for starring in the Taxi film series - was approached by a group of autograph seekers as he walked along the Promenade de la Croisette. According to French newspaper Nice Matin, Naceri declined the fans' request for his signature and then exposed his backside. He was later taken (more)...

If there is anybody who knows how to take a good concept, franchise it, and drive it into the ground, it’s Luc Besson. We’ve seen him do it with his Arthur, Taxi, Transporter and District 13 series, and now he’s looking to do it once more with Taken 2.

The film’s plot is still in development, but we can only suspect that once again ex-super agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) has to once again use his ruthless tactics to hunt down a gang of kidnappers. We can only hope that Besson doesn’t go the way of Hangover 2 and just change the location to Thailand and add a 2 to the end of the title.

Besson has also named the film’s director, who will be none other than Olivier Megaton. This should come as no surprise as Megaton and Besson have previously worked together on Transporter 3,...

As director/writer/producer Luc Besson has been responsible for a seemingly endless number of slick action films filled with gunplay, heroics, and a clear disregard for the laws of physics. He’s made action stars out of children and women (The Professional and La Femme Nikita), street gymnasts (District 13), and cabbies (Taxi). Hell, he even turned comic actor Jason Statham into a convincing action lead with The Transporter. Recently he’s found a new niche with lead actors approaching their sixth decade of life. Taken saw Liam Neeson demonstrating his very specific set of skills against some baddies, and now Jean Reno is shooting his way throughout the beautiful city of Marseilles in a bloody tale of revenge and family business gone awry. Charley Mattei (Reno) is a happily married father of two who once upon a time was also a mobster. He quit the business to focus on the joys of family, but...

HollywoodNews.com: As Nataile Portman generates Oscar buzz as an obsessed ballerina in “Black Swan,” the actress yearns to return to her roots.

Portman says that she’d return to the role that made her in Hollywood at the age of 12, Mathilda, in Luc Besson’s sequel to “the Professional,” entitled “Leon” in France.

The one clause in her contract: Besson needs to direct. Apparently, the director has a script, but won’t helm. In terms of high-octane actioners which made Besson famous, he’s left the bulk of them to other helmers, i.e. the “Taxi” and “Transporter” films, and instead took a producer role on such fare.

Speaking to MTV, Portman said: “I have never read it because Luc won’t direct it himself, and so I’m only interested if he [directs].

“I told him if he would do it himself, I would do it in two seconds.

EuropaCorp's Little White Lies aka Les Petits Mouchoirs by Guillaume Canet from France is on the Tipped for Cannes list.. meanwhile The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, which had its world premiere at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on April 9, received an extraordinary review from Screen .

And EuropaCorp is currently featured in Nikke Finke's Deadline Hollywood as it seeks to take its film I I Love You Phillip Morris away from Consolidated Pictures Group for North American distribution and put it into the hands of Newmarket. Read it for news of a good fight. The comments are especially telling.

Luc Besson's EuropaCorp is known in the Us for its big films with 20th Century Fox, Sony, Disney and Lionsgate, films like Clash of the Titans or The Incredible Hulk. However movie buffs and the older acquisitions executives will remember the buzz around Luc Besson's early film in...

Dinner for Schmucks

Opens: July 23rd 2010

Cast: Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Bruce Greenwood, David Walliams

Director: Jay Roach

Summary: A renowned publisher encourages his friends to invite the most pathetic guests possible for their weekly dinner party. Just as they find the most pathetic man yet, the host is injured and ends up trapped with the man all night long.

Analysis: A remake of director Francis Veber's 1998 César award-winning "Le Diner des cons", 'Schmucks' is one of the highest profile comedies of next year with one of the strongest casts for the genre in recent memory. It also marks the return of "Austin Powers" and "Meet the Parents" helmer Jay Roach who has produced several films in recent years but hasn't directed since 2004's "Meet the Fockers".

The question now lies not in the performers or director but the material itself and whether a Gallic comedy can...

Dinner for Schmucks

Opens: July 23rd 2010

Cast: Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Bruce Greenwood, David Walliams

Director: Jay Roach

Summary: A renowned publisher encourages his friends to invite the most pathetic guests possible for their weekly dinner party. Just as they find the most pathetic man yet, the host is injured and ends up trapped with the man all night long.

Analysis: A remake of director Francis Veber's 1998 César award-winning "Le Diner des cons", 'Schmucks' is one of the highest profile comedies of next year with one of the strongest casts for the genre in recent memory. It also marks the return of "Austin Powers" and "Meet the Parents" helmer Jay Roach who has produced several films in recent years but hasn't directed since 2004's "Meet the Fockers".

The question now lies not in the performers or director but the material itself and whether a Gallic comedy can...

Pierre Morel's follow up to the sleeper smash Taken is another Europacorp produced action machine. From Paris With Love stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as an embassy worker and John Travolta as a spy, thrown together by some apparent misunderstanding and charged with smashing, crashing and all-round actioneering in order to thwart a terrorist threat in the French capital. Check out the trailer for yourself after the break. I think the Europacorp action factory, which has produced everything from the original Taxi and its sequels through to the District 13 films, and typically with a script at least co-written by Luc Besson, is pretty dependable in delivering nice, solid b-movie style action shenanigans. Hopefully From Paris With Love will be no different. Besson is here credited as a co-writer alongside Adi Hasak, previously credited with George P. Cosmatos' Shadow Conspiracy. This trailer appears below. function getVideo() { var so = new SWFObject("http://cdn.

Good morning Boxwishers, we hope you’ve had a good, film-filled weekend with new releases like Adventureland, Dorian Gray and Julie and Julia. Or maybe you’ve just been very excited, like us, to see the brand new The Twilight Saga: New Moon trailer premiere yesterday! If all of that’s got you in the movie mood then why not treat yourself to a couple of new DVD’s while you wait for Friday’s cinema releases? New to DVD today are two sequels; complicated mystery Angels and Demons, the sequel to Dan Browns The Da Vinci Code, and the adrenaline fuelled Crank: High Voltage. And new to Blu-Ray is the iconic Léon.

If you see… Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) return to decipher codes and follow clues to solve a murder and protect the Vatican in Angels and Demons.

Why Not Take the official Angels and Demons tour in Italy,...

A group of five criminals break into a warehouse at night and tie up the two watchmen so they can steal a truck load of laptop computers. Meanwhile the notorious head of an Albanian crime group is being transported to Strasburg on charges including the slavery and forced prostitution of young girls and women. When the security forces transporting him are ambushed and most are killed by members of his Albanian mob, the remaining members make a break for it and hold up in the same warehouse which is the scene of the heist. Surrounded by psychopathic gang members intent on freeing their boss those inside the warehouse must set aside their differences and unite if they are to have any chance at all of surviving the night.

The nest is the second feature film directed by Florent Emilio Siri who has since gone on to direct Bruce Willis in the Hollywood blockbuster Hostage.

Marion Cotillard has been chosen to receive the Hollywood Film Festival's Hollywood Breakthrough Actress of the Year Award at the fest's annual awards ceremony Oct. 22 at the Beverly Hilton.

Cotillard stars in Olivier Dahan's La vie en rose, the Picturehouse release in which she plays French chanteuse Edith Piaf.

"Her superb performance in 'La vie en rose' must be recognized and enjoyed by both the established industry and the public at large," the fest's executive director Carlos de Abreu said.

The French actress also recently appeared in Ridley Scott's A Good Year, starring Russell Crowe. In 2005, she received the Cesar Award for best supporting actress for her role in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement. She also earned Cesar noms for 1998's Taxi and 2001's Les Jolies Choses.

The actress will next appear in Jean-Francois Richet's L'Ennemi public no. 1 (Public Enemy No. 1).

The 2007 annual Hollywood Film Festival is set for Oct. 16-22 at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood.