Tonight on TV comes one of the greatest science fiction classics of the 1990s. We’re talking about the wacky The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich.
Few films run on television with such insistent regularity as The Fifth Element. Despite its obvious age, the 1997 sci-fi adventure has hardly lost any of its entertainment value. Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich shine here in two of their most iconic roles.
The story of The Fifth Element takes us to the 23rd century, where we meet taxi driver Korben Dallas (Willis). Reluctantly, he is drawn into a mission that involves nothing less than saving the planet. A great disaster is looming and then there’s the mysterious Leeloo (Jovovich).
The Fifth Element: The plagiarism allegations against the sci-fi classic starring Bruce Willia and Milla Jovovich
The Fifth Element boasts many images and moments that are impossible to imagine film history without. However, when the film was released, the production was sued by two artists: Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean “Moebius” Giraud saw not a creative sci-fi triumph but plagiarism.
Here you can watch the trailer for The Fifth Element:
In 1988, Jodorowsky and Giraud published the comic The Incal, in which many motifs can be found that also appear in a similar form in The Fifth Element.
Giraud sued Besson and the production company Gaumont for 13.1 million euros for unfair competition. In addition, there was a lawsuit seeking 9 million euros in damages and interest. Giraud also demanded five per cent of the cinema revenue. Jodorowsky, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit for 700,000 euros.
As the French site ToutenBD reported, Jodorowsky and Giraud lost their respective lawsuits in 2004 because there were only small similarities between the two works.
