Vin Diesel’s dedication to the Riddickverse was the source of some bemusement for many years, until he and David Twohy managed to give all the doubters the finger and get a new, R-rated entry in the franchise made. I’ve now seen the two trailers (which are quite the slog, unfrotunately) more time than I can count. So in that sense, they win.
This is not how it was meant to be however, as Twohy and Diesel have explained that Pitch Black was merely a precursor to a trilogy that was meant to begin with Chronicles of Riddick. That’s not really new information but, speaking with SFX magazine, the two have re-upped their dedication to finishing out that trilogy in some form, even as Riddick takes a side-trip away from the bigger mythology. In the process they also reveal that Riddick does manage some deliberate setup for future movies, including a particular cameo…
“At its core [Riddick] is a survival story about one man, and his only way to get off this planet is to call in the mercenaries for a ride. That said, we don’t turn our backs on the mythology that we planted in the last movie, and we are actually bringing Karl [Urban] back for a few days of filming to advance it and lay the groundwork for movie four. We’re concerned with paying off the loyal fans and think that if somebody doesn’t understand something the solution is to look at the other two movies and get up to speed. It does play in a gratifying way as a standalone movie, but there are threads that we continue to sew that we started in previous movies and will continue in future movies.”
Diesel goes on to say that what would now be the fourth and fifth films are still meant to take us to the Underverse and to Riddick’s homeworld Furya, as long teased.
I can’t imagine Riddick being a true hit at the box office, but it will probably sell enough tickets that Twohy and Diesel will be no more dissuaded than they’ve ever been to continue with this franchise. And if Diesel keeps cashing his Fast & Furious clout in to make these happen and technology empowers them to go bigger again, more power to them. There’s an endearingly pulpy dedication to this world and this character from this unlikely Auteur/Actor pairing…
Riddick hits September 6th, 2013.