The Fifth Element

Luc Besson began dreaming up The Fifth Element as a teenager and finally made it in 1997 for roughly $90 million — then one of the most expensive films ever produced outside Hollywood. Bruce Willis played jaded ex-soldier and cab driver Korben Dallas, Milla Jovovich the genetically perfect Leeloo, Gary Oldman the villainous industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, and Chris Tucker the flamboyant radio host Ruby Rhod. The 23rd-century world was designed by comic artists Jean 'Mœbius' Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, and the outrageous costumes came from fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier.

Reviews were sharply split — Roger Ebert called it 'one of the great goofy movies,' while others found it a mess — but audiences worldwide didn't care. It grossed about $263.9 million globally, most of it overseas, and held the record for highest-grossing French film until The Intouchables (2011) overtook it. One scene became instantly iconic: the blue Diva Plavalaguna's operatic performance, played on screen by Maïwenn and sung by Albanian soprano Inva Mula, cross-cut with Leeloo's brutal fight.

Over time the film shed its divisive reputation and hardened into a beloved sci-fi cult classic, endlessly quoted ('Leeloo Dallas, multipass') and admired for a look nobody has quite matched since. It won three César Awards, including Best Director, and remains the definitive candy-colored counterpoint to the grim sci-fi of its era.