Despite never being the central character of a true blockbuster, the character of Riddick has long held the heart of actor Vin Diesel. This probably has to do with the fact that the vicious yet honorable killer was Diesel’s first break out role. Diesel played the character in 2000’s “Pitch Black” and along with director David Twohy he has remained the character’s biggest advocate. 2004’s “The Chronicles of Riddick” proved to be a misstep and suffered from underwhelming box office. That’s why it has taken 7 years for a third film to get on solid footing. But to hear Diesel tell it on his Facebook page, the day has almost come for the new project to go in front of cameras.
Diesel uploaded the latest bit of concept art for the film while noting “First stop for the Riddick production is Canada, which is where we shot a large part of Chronicles.” At this point the project has independent financing with Universal agreeing to distribute the final product. This will mean the project is going to be massively scaled down from the previous film, but that always seems to have been the intension. Diesel also noted “I am grateful to have Universal in such support of this complex character’s journey, not many studios wouldn’t back an “R” rating. Very cool.”
Diesel and Twohy have been working on a story and concept for a new Riddick film for years, despite not having the financial backing of a studio. The two have shown their commitment to the character and have never let a lack of financing dampen their enthusiasm. Diesel has been steadily leaking concept art for the new project on his Facebook page for months, even though there was no concrete evidence that the film would even happen. It seems to be his way of firing up any fans that might be out there.
The approach that Diesel and Twohy plan to take is much more in line with “Pitch Black” than “Chronicles of Riddick.” The latter film became too large in scope and the character it was meant to be about actually got lost in the shuffle at times. So the pair is planning to strip it back down to basics: Riddick fighting for his life. The notions of fate and pseudo magic that bogged down the first sequel will be severely downplayed if not dropped altogether.
There will likely have to be at least some form of lip service given to the events of the last film, if only to explain why Riddick is once more on the run after rising to such power at the end of “Chronicles.” Aside from that the film looks to go back to its roots of “R” rated science-fiction-action-horror. It will be interesting to see if the fan base still exists after so long. The film has no release date as yet and may be released in either late 2012 or early 2013.
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