Ultra Pro International has signed a license to produce board games, card games, and gaming accessories tied to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the upcoming film directed by Luc Besson (see "First Trailer for 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets'").  Although Ultra Pro has a long history of licensing intellectual property for its gaming accessories (see "'One-Punch Man' Accessories"), this is the first time that we’ve seen Ultra Pro sign a license for games.

Ultra Pro has been on an expansion tear rolling up games from other companies, most recently acquiring Playroom (see "Ultra Pro Acquiring Playroom Entertainment"), and acquiring rights to the games of Stone Blade Entertainment (see "Ultra Pro Acquires Stone Blade Games' Titles'").

The Ultra Pro license is one of seven announced by Besson’s studio EuropaCorp.  Titan Entertainment will produce for 'Art of' and 'Making of' books and a movie novelization.  NECA signed for action figures, die-cast vehicles and prop replicas; Funko for POP! and Mystery Mini figures; Acco Brands for Calendars; Love & Madness for jewelry patches, tattoos, hair accessories, bags, and tech accessories: and Just Toys for impulse aisle and blind bag items.

The film, based on the Valerian BD (bande dessinee, French graphic novel) series, opens July 21, 2017 (see "Best in Shows – Q3 2017").