Plot Details for Third 'Riddick' Film Revealed

Last week, news was out that David Twohy was going to get the chance to write and direct a third "Chronicles of Riddick" film. Simply called "Riddick," it would again star Vin Diesel as the antihero.

The film is set to be distributed domestically by Universal and internationally by Lionsgate. THR reports that the property is in hot demand as Lionsgate was able to start a bidding war in Russia for the rights to the film's distribution where the asking price has jumped up past $2.5 million for that country alone.

The most interesting part of the report, however, is the glimpse of what we can expect to see in the third installment with some details about the sequel’s plot.

“Riddick” delivers on both counts. Though billed as a back-to-basics approach to the character popularized by Diesel, the script features the character — the most wanted man in the galaxy — left for dead on a barren alien planet, dealing with “trisons” (three-legged bisons) and “mud demons.” He must then contend with two squads of bounty hunters, one of which ride rockets called jetcycles.

"Pitch Black" was a really good, creepy little mix of horror and science fiction. The sequel, "The Chronicles of Riddick," took the character into a world that was much too big for it, losing fans in the process. The plot details of the third film reveal that it will be going back to its roots and focusing more on the character's struggles rather than his place in the universe.

All I want to see in a good sequel is Riddick being more of a badass, escaping capture around the galaxy and no creepy cult group trying to kill him. And having the film be rated-R like "Pitch Black" would help as well.

What do you think of the plot details for "Riddick"?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Live for Films, Screen Rant, First Showing, Latino Review

Third 'Riddick' Film is Offical with Vin Diesel

Variety has confirmed that Vin Diesel will be back to both produce and star in another installment of the "Chronicles of Riddick" franchise.

Its been six years since "The Chronicles of Riddick" proved a critical and financial disappointment (it made $116 million worldwide on a budget of around $105 million) and a third film didn't seem likely. But a series of video games elevated Riddick’s status back to the level of “cool” and fans began to clamor for Riddick's return to the big screen.

Vin Diesel will reprise his role of the infamous Furyan convict with shining eyes that can see in the dark. The film will be simply titled "Riddick."

David Twohy - who scripted and directed the first two films - will direct from a screenplay he wrote.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but insiders say the third outing will be closer in tone to the first release, 2000's "Pitch Black," and will return its focus to the character as opposed to the universe he inhabits, which was the case with the "Chronicles of Riddick." Not sure if it will follow on from that film where Riddick ended up being leader of the Necromongers.

Diesel, 42, is also to begin filming later this year for "Fast Five," the latest offering in the "Fast and Furious" street-racing series.

I’m really looking forward to seeing some more of Riddick and glad they are going back to the tone of "Pitch Black," although I personally enjoyed seeing the Universe building in the second film. I do hope they tie up the plot from that installment and that it get’s an R-Rating so Riddick can be badass again!

What did you think of the first two films? Are you excited to see Riddick on the big screen again?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: The Geek Files, Live for Films, Screen Rant

New Updates on Next 'Riddick' Movie

ShockTillYouDrop got a chance to sit down with "Pitch Black"/"Chronicles of Riddick" writer, David Twohy, who gave an update on the status of the "third Riddick" movie. The writer/director of the upcoming "A Perfect Getaway" confirmed that he and star Vin Diesel are currently in the midst of discussions of how to bring the character back for a third movie, including a very welcome detail that they are aiming for an R-Rated movie again.

Twohy co-wrote and directed "Pitch" Black back in 2000, before going on four years later to solely write and direct its sequel, "The Chronicles of Riddick." "Pitch Black" was rated R and delivered a pretty hardcore sci-fi action/horror movie that still holds up today. Its sequel was brought down to a PG-13 rating, and even Twohy himself agrees that was a mistake for the series.

"I've sketched out two ideas for the next installment," Twohy explained. "Vin and I have decided on one approach of those two, and there's some interest at the studio level but it would be as a PG-13 film, and we don't want to do that anymore. That's one of the concessions we thought we made with 'Riddick' that we shouldn't have made. We also spent too much money and we were too ambitions, so yes, if we do go back to a third one, it will be focused again, hopefully again the same way that 'Pitch Black' was, and we'll spend less money doing it. We're just trying to figure out how much less we can do it for, because I don't think Vin is going to work for scale again."

"The third movie would be more modestly-scaled and it would probably feel more like 'Pitch Black' then 'Chronicles'," he continued. "It will always be Riddick-centric. If the question is whether it will be more like the first one than the second one, the difference is that yeah, you can sell it on its creatures and say 'This is a creature fest and we're going to go out as us vs. the creatures' but that's like a lot of different movies. However, the hallmark of a good movie, and I think 'Pitch Black' is a good movie, is that even if you took the creatures out of the picture, you'd still have some pretty interesting character dynamics going on within that group, and it's almost like you can tell the same story without the creature or substitute some other external pressure on the group, because there were internal pressures as well that were interesting. So was it really a creature feature? It had the hallmarks of it, the trappings of a creature movie, but it also had pretty good characters."

Personally, I would be extremely interested in seeing the Riddick series return to its R-Rated roots. "Pitch Black" is still a very effective and legitimately atmospheric sci-fi action/horror, and I was sad to see the series movie away from that to the action adventure style that "The Chronicles of Riddick" had. It really sounds like Twohy (and Diesel) are passionate about the Riddick character - the franchise is in motivated hands, at least.

Although no filming or release date has been set as of yet for Riddick 3, Twohy hinted at a possible production date of early 2010.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: ShockTilYouDrop, Screen Rant, First Showing

The Next Chronicles of Riddick Already in Pre-Production?

According to Latino Review, "Despite a disappointing worldwide box-office gross of $115 million, 'The Chronicles of Riddick' was generally liked by the viewing public. Vin Diesel and director David Twohy chose to do something different than make a straight forward sequel to their 2000 cult sci-fi/horror film 'Pitch Black'. They expanded upon the universe of Diesel's character Richard B. Riddick, putting him at the center of a story of cosmic proportions. The film had two things going against it. It was forced to obtain a PG-13 rating by the studio, alienating some of the fans of 'Pitch Black' who wanted another hardcore R film and it was released in early summer 2004, a week after the third Harry Potter film.

Like 'Pitch Black', 'The Chronicles of Riddick' did pretty well on home video and has expanded into a successful video game franchise. 'Escape from Butcher Bay', featuring a scenario where players could be Riddick and escape from a slam prison, was so popular that a second game was recently released. At this time 'Assault on Dark Athena' happens to be the most popular game in the country and while promoting its release on Jonathan Ross' show last month, Diesel claimed that Twohy was finishing up the script for the next film and was hoping shooting could begin next year. This sounds a little bit like wishful thinking on Diesel's part, but if you remember, 'Chronicles of Riddick' was always envisioned by Diesel and Twohy as a trilogy. If 'COR' were 'The Lord of the Rings' then 'Pitch Black' would be 'The Hobbit.'

Diesel had a huge hit with 'Fast & Furious' early this month which not only made the biggest April debut on record with a $72 million opening weekend, but has grossed $146 million to date. I was personally wishing for this while the film was in production in the hopes that Universal Studios would see Diesel's box-office potential again and greenlight another Riddick film, but I recently discovered that as early as January of this year, pre-production on the next film was already underway."

Ron Henriques at Latino Review discusses more about the Blu-ray commentary from Diesel and Twohy that was recorded this January in which the two discuss plans for more films to expand on the Riddick mythology.
If you're interested definitely read it at Latino Review.

Until then, a "Chronicles of Riddick 2" can be hitting theaters sometime in 2012.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

Get Ready for Riddick

According to IESB, "Universal Pictures, the studio behind the ['Riddick'] franchise, is gung-ho about a Riddick sequel due to the huge tracking of Diesel's 'Fast and Furious' due out April 3 co-starring Paul Walker.

IESB is hearing the new 'Riddick' film will be more down and dirty with less "fantasy epic stuff" to deal with. A bounty hunter/space pirate type of story line is expected.

Expect an official announcement about the new film after 'Fast and Furious' opens big on April 3."

I am seriously down for another "Riddick" movie. "Pitch Black" was an awesome introduction to the character and while "Riddick" has some faults, I still think it was a pretty decent sci-fi film. I am ready for Riddick to return in all his bad ass glory.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

Vin Diesel and His Next 4 Films

At a press junket for his latest film "Fast and Furious," Vin Diesel spoke about his hopes and ideas for his next four movies.

Paul (Walker) mentioned you had ideas about a 'Fast and Furious 5,' about how it could go to Europe. Are you already thinking, after this opens, that...

Vin: Yes. Yes. I think a few pictures at a time ahead. I try to work out stories in the way I approach sequels. In that, Coppola way. I try to think out the story, even before we go to shoot the film that's at hand. So yes, I have been thinking about it. I actually brought up the idea of shooting both of the movies back to back to the President of Universal. He was like, "What? We're just getting our feet back together."

If this movie is a big hit, will it finally enable you to get 'Hannibal' off the ground?

Vin: We hope, right? In theory, yes. To be 100% honest, I think the studio might be a little bit, and I can understand, apprehensive about giving me a budget that big to direct. So the question has been, and is what probably has held the film back from being realized, "Do I have to direct it?"

And?

Vin: I would ask you that. Do I have to direct it or, do I produce it, get my voice on it, you know, put my mojo on it, and let someone else direct it that the studio would feel comfortable with with that size budget.



The third 'Riddick,' you've been talking about that being a Ramboesque, bare bones smaller scale Riddick. Would that close the trilogy? Or are you planning a third Riddick after that?

Vin: I talked about Riddick as being 'The Fellowship' in the Tolkien series. I was using 'Pitch Black' as 'The Hobbit,' as an independent story that introduces you to the world of Middle Earth, and then taking 'The Chronicles of Riddick' and treating it as a trilogy that goes from the story that you saw, to the Underverse, and ultimately to Furia in the third film.

You said David is currently writing the third right now?

Vin: He's currently writing the third. It's hot. But to answer your question, about the scaled down aspect. Yes, there is a scaled down portion of this that goes back to the 'Pitch Black' style. So if you think of 'Pitch Black' as an introduction to the world, and you think of 'Lord of the Rings,' and I'm just using this as a parallel, you think of it as a trilogy, you would think of 'Chronicles of Riddick' as the first in a trilogy.

And what about reviving Xander Cage? How would they do that since they blew your scalp off?

Vin: Ha! Rob Cohen found a way to incorporate that into the story years ago, and he's just now able to implement it.



Will a 'XXX 3' happen you think?

Vin: Should I do it?

Ya.

Vin: That's all I need to hear!

After the junket was over, Vin still talked about 'Hannibal.' Should he direct it? Should he let someone else do it?

He said, "If it's in service of telling a great story, Because at the end of the day, you just want to see an incredible Hannibal. And you'd hope, that even if I'm not directing it, all of the work, the development that's been put into it will shine and that you will see that, and that it will speak to you. And the message and the integrity behind the story, and the passion that I've held on to, and that you know has driven me in the hope of telling that story, is present. The question is, how can I maintain that, and make a studio feel comfortable."

Diesel has his plate full for the next couple of years if the sequels work out. "Hannibal the Conqueror" will star Vin Diesel as the Carthaginian general who led an elephant-riding battalion across the Alps to attack Rome in the 3rd Century B.C. It won't be about the Hannibal from "Silence of the Lambs" (Some people think it will just because of the name).

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Source: Latino Review