Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has 2,734 special effects shots. There are so many, in fact, that Besson decided to break them up into three types and send them out for bids. Ultimately, Weta Digital, Industrial Light & Magic and Rodeo FX signed up to provide the effects.

"I don’t think anyone could have taken the entire bid by itself," Besson said.

ILM is doing the first 25 minutes of the movie, which is essentially one big scene that takes place at an intergalactic, interdimensional marketplace. Weta is handling the bulk of the rest of the movie, which mostly takes place on an 18-mile-long space station. And Rodeo FX is doing all of the spaceships and technology.

Besson said the setup, especially one that has both ILM and Weta working on the same movie, came with some surprising benefits.

"They both know they will be shown in the same film and want to be the best," Besson said. "It’s a nice competition and they’re giving them best, believe me."