Despite the fact 2004’s Chronicles Of Riddick came out and flopped badly, Vin Diesel has never given up hope of continuing the anti-hero’s sci-fi journey. The original plan that writer/drector David Twohy came up with was for an epic story that would have taken Riddick through another two movies, but after the 2004 film failed, that idea got thrown out of the window.
However recently Diesel has been talking once more about Riddick’s return, and now it’s been confirmed that he’s signed with Universal for another outing as the character. However, as the overly complex and rather ridiculous big-budget effort failed, this new film will be closer in tone to the low-budget movie that introduced us to Riddick in the first place, Pitch Black. It’s going to be quite a scaling back from Chronicles Of Riddick, but it was the only way to get another movie made.
At the moment, no one’s revealing any plot details, although the film is is going by the rather unimaginative and undescriptive title of Riddick. David Twohy will once more write and direct, with Universal currently working out a schedule so they can get Diesel in both this and the next installment of the Fast & Furious series.
While he’s come and gone from other film series, Diesel has always shown a peculiar dedication to Riddick, and even after the last film flopped spectacularly, he’s continued to champion it. To be honest, the main reason it’s getting another movie outing is probably because of the success of the videogames, which have made more money for Universal than the Riddick films ever have.