Europa Corp. has announced the world premiere of Michel Vaillant which is set for November 8 at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

The film is adapted from the comic books by Jean and Philippe Graton about a race car driver. The books have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Vaillant is the first producing effort from Europa co-founder Pierre-Ange Le Pogam who had long dreamed of doing such a project. Speaking to ScreenDaily.com during the final edit for the film, Le Pogam was ebullient and said it had been a highlight of his career.

The film will be premiered in the presence of Europa's other founder Luc Besson, Le Pogam, director Louis-Pascale Couvelaire and stars Sagamore Stevenin, Peter Youngblood-Hills and Diane Kruger.

Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, chairman of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing and the new General Producer of the Tokyo festival, says the screening of Vaillant will be one of the most high profile evenings of the event.

Vaillant will open in France on November 19 and in Japan, where Europa has a distribution outfit, at Christmas.