domestic-grown superheroes may rule over Hollywood,but French and Belgian comic-book adaptations are often stranger and sexier than their US counterpartsTwo recent events highlighted the balance of power in the comic book world: a poor $17m US opening for Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and the routine hullabaloo (uproar) over the latest Marvel offerings at Comic-Con. With Marvel and DC maintaining a stranglehold over blockbuster adaptations, the American comic-book tradition is still impregnable. Which could be one reason why an offshoot of the wilder Franco-Belge tradition – Valerian was adapted from a long-running French sci-fi serial – has struggled there. Ingrained cultural tastes sealed its fate, and suggested the French weekly Inrockuptibles in its review,accusing the Hollywood Reporter of attacking the film with an nearly “protectionist” fervour.
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Source: theguardian.com