Riddick Sequel Not Arriving Till 2013, But There May Be More Sequels

Date: May 2, 2012 | Author: David Wharton | Category: Sci-Fi

I’ve got high hopes for the Riddick sequel. That’s in spite, not because of, how Vin Diesel and David Twohy handled the first sequel, 2004′s Chronicles of Riddick. Pitch Black was a great spin on a familiar concept buoyed by excellent execution and a memorable antihero in the form of Richard B. Riddick. Chronicles, on the other hand, seemed to forget all the things that made Pitch Black a cult classic, and instead immersed Riddick into an overly complicated mythology in which the character seemed completely out of place. Everything we’re hearing about Riddick 3, however, makes it sound like Diesel and company are getting back to the basics of what make Riddick work so well: throw him into a situation where he is both predator and prey, then watch the blood fly. With a solid cast including Karl Urban and Katee Sackhoff, there is good reason to be excited for Riddick 3. Unfortunately, it sounds like we won’t be seeing it before 2013.

The word comes from Vin Diesel’s Facebook page, where he updated fans about the project earlier this week. Even more interesting, Diesel hints that there may be more than one sequel on the horizon. Here’s what he said:

The studio said the earliest they could release the new “Riddick” is in January… was hoping for 2012… but, it’s on the horizon.

/smile

P.s. I think they are liking what they are seeing… haha, cause they asked when both Underverse and Furya would be ready to make and release… haha… now that’s a ways in the future but it is exciting.

If you remember back in 2006, before Chronicles hit theaters, Diesel said in interviews that he had already planned out a trilogy of Riddick films, of which Chronicles was supposed to be the first. The second film was to deal with the dark parallel universe called the Underverse, and the third film was to explore Riddick’s origins as the last survivor of a race known as Furyans. Based on Diesel’s quote, it sounds like he hasn’t totally abandoned his original storyline, but it also sounds like Riddick is more of a self-contained storyline that going to be a lot more similar to Pitch Black than Chronicles. In my opinion, that’s a good thing. And if Riddick 3 actually does well enough to merit further sequels, hey, more power to Diesel.

These movies are obviously passion projects for the actor, so I wish him success. I just hope that he finds a way to be more true to the elements that make Riddick a compelling character, rather than swamping him in an overly complicated mythology. Both Pitch Black and the excellent Riddick video games have proven that the character has tons of potential; I just hope Diesel doesn’t squander that potential any further.

Comments

Azrael

I liked chronicles more then pitch black sure it had problems but the underverse story had potential.
- JT
  
  I really hated the underverse storyline but all the bounty hunter stuff was great. I wish they’d focused on that as the plot of Chronicles. In spite of that, I enjoyed Chronicles too.
gospyro

Loved both movies (was okay with the animated filler Dark Fury). They are just a different spin on the story/characters, like Alien and Aliens… totally different styles of story telling, but love’m both. Can’t wait to see more of Riddick, regardless of style of the story (as long as they do it well)!!
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=827859671 David Wharton
  
  Have you played the games? If you’re a gamer at all, definitely track down Escape From Butcher Bay/Escape from Dark Athena. Good stuff. Butcher Bay, especially, is a perfect distillation of what makes the Riddick character fun.
Tim Kane

I, too, enjoyed both movies. I found “Pitch Black” to be more of a side story to the much bigger epic presented in “Chronicles”. Metaphorically speaking, if you were to think of “Chronicles” as the main event, then “Pitch Black” was just something that happened on his [Riddick's] way to the main event. I loved the whole “underverse” and “Necromonger” concepts. I found them to be very original and a cleverly assembled mythology that was neither too complicated or distracting from the character of Riddick. Therefor, I disagree with David Wharton’s opinions and assessment of “The Chronicles of Riddick”. Compared to the trite and straightforward premise of “Pitch Black”, “The Chronicles of Riddick” was a masterfully executed and highly entertaining epic adventure worthy to be counted among such other epics as “Star Wars” and “Alien” and other top-notch science-fiction masterpieces. You [David Wharton] have to remember that we sci-fi fans are among the most intelligent movie-goers in the world. And I’m sure we all agree that we can handle a mythology and complex and intricate as the one presented in “The Chronicles of Riddick”. So, please don’t assume to know us and to know what you’re talking about as being factual in any way. Thank you.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=827859671 David Wharton
  
  Hey Tim: I’m not suggesting that the mythology was hard to follow, I’m saying the huge, cosmic style story — for me — did not mesh well with the character of Riddick. For me, making him the last survivor of a race of aliens, and the whole Underverse stuff, made him LESS interesting a character to me, rather than more. If people responded to Chronicles and didn’t feel that way, awesome, more power to you, but I’m definitely looking forward to a return to a grittier, smaller-scale story with Riddick 3. And who knows, if they get further sequels, maybe they’ll find a way to make the larger story work better and prove me wrong, but for me, Chronicles isn’t a flick I really have any interest in rewatching, whereas I’ll be rewatching Pitch Black for years to come.
http://twitter.com/DeepSpacer Brian Williams

I enjoyed both movies, although I felt the animated Dark Fury was in a lot of ways superior to Chronicles. I really hope this one does well at the box office but my hopes aren’t very high since the Riddick movies seem to have a pretty small audience. I think it could have a bigger one than it does but a lot of people still see Vin Diesel as a muscle bound meathead, when in reality he’s a likeable musclebound nerd.

I wouldn’t bet on any more being made after this, but I hope I’m wrong.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=827859671 David Wharton
  
  Yeah, I was kind of shocked that he was even talking about further sequels at this point. It’d be nice, but it seems like Riddick 3 has a lot to prove, financially, before that bridge can be crossed.
Repo Man

Okay, first — I can’t even respond to anyone who would call
“Chronicles” an epic, and the same level as “Star Wars.” That’s like
debating with someone who thinks the Earth is still flat — a senseless
waste of limited life minutes. Even George Lucas would purposely drop
dead and be buried, just to roll over in his grave. As for the other comments, I didn’t hate
“Chronicles,” but — Com’on! It wasn’t a good movie. The story seemed
liked it was pieced together from three other half-baked stories that
some Hollywood hack said: “Hey, this could work with lots of CGI. I’ll
be done by lunch. Where’s my check?” And the comments here seem more
forgiving and apologetic just because it’s sci-fi (or supposed to be),
versus holding it to the standard of GOOD sci-fi (which “Pitch Black”
was). You know, this is why so many bad Rom-Com movies are made. Because
enough people pay even if its awful. “But Jennifer Aniston’s in it.” So has this where it has come to in our genre? It sucks, but that’s okay. It’s still sci-fi.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640482418 Joss ‘Scruffy McDreads’ Dent

Chronicles of Riddick is one of my favourite sci-fi movies, and I found the mythology wonderfully complex and fascinating. The settings were beautiful and the universe was
developed nicely. It’s true that it had a very different feel to the
first film, but then I found some of the hard-sci-fi elements of Pitch
Black contrasted even within that film with the monsters and larger-than-life Riddick character: some aspects of the film were serious, others were very silly.
Chronicles took the less grounded aspects and turned them into an epic
sci-fi fantasy the likes of which has rarely been seen before! I’ll be
happy with whatever direction this next film goes, I do wish Chronicles
of Riddick had a bigger following and David Twohy/Vin Diesel had had an
opportunity to make the trilogy they originally intended, but even
though they’re not going in this direction there’s still a severe lack
of good science fiction these days and I’ll take what I can get. If we
can’t have another Conan-in-space, maybe we can have another Moon or
Pandorum.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stacie-Weaver/100000217674316 Stacie Weaver

I have never understood how anyone could hate COR – I just absolutely loved it, loved the underverse stuff, loved the idea of the elementals… And how could anyone argue with a movie containing a scene where Riddick kills someone with a teacup? Love it. No, it’s not Star Wars, but it’s way more fun to watch than most of the “scifi” crap that’s come out in the last few years. I am so sick of robots fighting and unfrightening American dystopias – give me a weird world with Judi Dench floating and souleating weirdos anyday.
Nitelife

I’ve seen two posts that seem to feel the Riddick character was swamped by the “mythology” in Chronicles. On the other hand I thought it worthwhile to post my opinion which is quite the opposite. I thought Pitch Black was a beautiful lead in to a much greater story that shows us the true breadth and depth of the Riddick character. I believe they should continue to build the story because it enhances the character rather than detract from him as has been said. Whatever they do, I like Riddick, so, will likely remain loyal to a character I like from the very beginning of his presence on the movie screen.

Giant Freakin Robot