09/09/2015 - Luc Besson’s company is bringing out a new English-language action title; other releases include Youth, Out of Nature and The Lesson

Two weeks after he took to the media to lament the lack of a tax credit in France for national English-language productions, which may very well lead him to shoot his next science-fiction blockbuster, Valerian (starring Clive Owen, Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan), somewhere else in Europe, Luc Besson and his company, EuropaCorp, are today releasing The Transporter Legacy [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] by Camille Delamarre in 461 French theatres. Co-produced with China, this new instalment, which is a reboot of the first chapter (2002), but also a prequel to the other films in the saga (2005 and 2008) – the whole package having also given rise to a TV series – is another example of EuropaCorp’s strategy founded on action blockbusters with an eye on the international market. This strategy will continue in 2016-2017 with Shut In by British director Farren Blackburn (starring Naomi Watts), Nine Lives by US filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld (starring Kevin Spacey), The Lake by his fellow countryman Steven Quale, Twice by France’s Jean-François Richet, Kursk by Danish director Martin Zandvliet, Escobar by Spaniard Fernando Leon de Aranoa (starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem) and of course Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets by Besson himself. 

Other new releases worth pointing out today are the documentary Human [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Yann-Arthus Bertrand (selected out of competition at the 72nd Venice Film Festival – Paname Distribution in 370 cinemas), the Cannes competitor Youth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile] by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (read the interview – Pathé across 128 screens), Out of Nature [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ole Giæver
film profile] by Norwegian duo Ole Giæver and Marte Vold (Europa Cinemas Label in the Berlinale Panorama – read the interview – Epicentre Films in 20 theatres) and The Lesson [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
interview: Margita Gosheva
film profile] by Bulgaria’s Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (winner of the New Directors section at San Sebastian and a finalist for the European Parliament’s LUX Prize – read the interview – ZED Distribution in 29 cinemas).

Also coming out today are the Franco-Greek-Iranian co-production Red Rose [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Sepideh Farsi (unveiled last year at Toronto – Urban Distribution across 15 screens) and Au plus près du soleil [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Yves Angelo (read the article – Bac Films in 84 theatres).

Cinema attendance levels in France totalled 135.08 million admissions over the first eight months of the year, according to the CNC’s estimates, nevertheless with a fall of 19.9% last month compared to August 2014. The market share of French films in 2015 amounts to 34.4%, as against 53.3% for US productions and 12.3% for features from other countries.

(Translated from French)