Much of the talk concerning Chris Nolan's Dunkirk swirled around how well it played in IMAX and/or 70mm and how it personified the prototypical big-screen theatrical experience at its best. The good news is that most of said chatter is correct. Dunkirk does look marvelous in IMAX 70mm and it does demand to be seen on the biggest screen you can find.

But the bad news is that much of the chatter is drowning out this weekend's other big release, Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. And yeah, that $150 million-budgeted fantasy (after rebates and such) absolutely deserves to be seen on as big of a screen as you can find.

Besson's lush and eye-popping futuristic space opera, based upon the Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières long-running (starting in 1967) French comic book series, is filled to the brim with new sights and new sounds that will immerse you in its world just as fervently as Nolan's towering World War II drama.

It has a huge budget with every penny on the screen. And the 3D work actually adds to the experience, rather than detracting or existing as a neutral factor for the sake of higher ticket prices. It may not end as well as it starts, and it drags a little in the second act, but it's great big-screen fun and that first act is absolutely a classic of sci-fi madness and gee-whiz swashbuckling adventure.

Back in December, I argued that STX and EuropaCorp should take the August 4th slot vacated by Fox's Alien: Covenant as opposed to the already determined July 21st release date. At the time, I was merely arguing that A) Chris Nolan's Dunkirk would get all the press in the week of release and B) if it was any good, that Valerien could make a stand as the last big movie of the summer and ride out the end of the season/start of the school year.

But two things I didn't factor into it, and I darn well should have, was that A) Dunkirk will be taking almost all of the best and biggest theaters B) this weekend is the San Diego Comic Convention.

First, Valerian is absolutely an SDCC-friendly movie, and opening it this weekend means losing at least some opening weekend bucks to those who otherwise might have attended but are occupied with the convention. A release even next weekend would allow for a SDCC screening for demo-friendly moviegoers if STX so desired. Moreover, the media will be dominated by whatever tidbits and footage the folks in San Diego hear about and see, along with whatever ends up online.

Second, as the headline implies, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets deserves to be seen on the biggest of big screens. And this weekend, and presumably for much of its run, the biggest of big screens will be occupied by Dunkirk. Yes, there are approximately 100 "Premium Large Format" auditoriums showing the Dane DeHaan/Cara Delevingne sci-fi adventure, but all of the IMAX screens and many (if not most) of the various PLF auditoriums are understandably offering Chris Nolan's Dunkirk.

So, yeah, I'm still hopeful that Valerian will hold its own this weekend (a $1.7 million Thursday start is optimistic news), but I just wanted to take a moment to remind folks that Dunkirk isn't the only "must see it on the big screen" new release today. Valieran and the City of a Thousand Planets is a dazzling cinematic experience, and it deserves to be a glorious theatrical one as well. It may not have gotten the IMAX screens it deserved, but you owe it to yourself to find the biggest and best screen available to you to indulge in its bewildering big-screen magic.

Oh, and while I haven't seen it yet, I'm guessing that Girls Trip deserves to be seen in a packed audience filled with enthusiastic moviegoers as well, but I digress.