STX And EuropaCorp Are Coming Together Like a Movie Studio Version Of Voltron

2016 was not kind to EuropaCorp RED, the U.S. distribution arm of movie studio EuropaCorp. Though the studio had seen plenty of hits in the past by way of the Taken movies and Lucy, well, their forays into U.S. self-distribution had been an outright disaster. An attempt to reboot the Transporter movie in September 2015 got the studio off to a disastrous start and it'd be 11 whole months before they had another release, Nine Lives, which became a critical punching bag and a big box office dud. At least that Barry Sonnenfeld comedy grossed over $10 million, something that can't be said for their other two 2016 releases, Shut In and the underrated Miss Sloane.


To boot, Relativity Media, the studio that was financing about half of the EuropaCorp RED studio, was in financial ruin, meaning they hadn't put up cash for the studio in eons. Something had to change for EuropaCorp RED....and today, change has come, in the form of STX Entertainment, who will now be releasing EuropaCorp RED's titles in the U.S. as part of a multi-year agreement. Not only does this benefit EuropaCorp RED in obvious ways, it also helps STX Entertainment, who had a far superior 2016 thanks to the smash hit Bad Moms, but still had major financial misfires like Hardcore Henry and Free State Of Jones.

There's also the issue of STX having trouble getting in-house movies of the ground (that Will Ferrell/Josh Gad Roger Ebert movie they greenlit ages ago has yet to see the light of day for instance). So now EuropaCorp RED will provide them with a steady stream of titles. To boot, the immediately get at least 4 movies to release in 2017. Among them are a Emma Watson/Tom Hanks thriller called The Circle, an action movie called Renegades, a Gemma Arterton/Sam Claflin rom-com called Their Finest and one of my most anticipated movies of 2017, Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, a gonzo looking science-fiction film from Luc Besson.

If I may offer a piece of advice to STX, I'd suggest moving Valerian's release date as quickly as possible. Currently, Valerian is set to be released on July 21st, the same weekend as Dunkirk and sending a non-sequel sci-fi movie with no big stars based on obscure (in America) source material to face off against a Christopher Nolan movie feels like suicide. I say move it to August 4th, which isa date where no other summer blockbusters are currently opening and is the same first weekend of August date fellow non-sequel science-fiction film Guardians Of The Galaxy flourished in in 2014.

Anywho, we shall see how this STX/EuropaCorp partnership works out in the future. For now, how about we all watch that amazing Valerian trailer again, shall we?