I’m one of the few out there who really enjoyed David Twohy’s 2004 film Chronicles of Riddick: a bonkers space opera that saw Vin Diesel reprise his role as the antihero Richard B. Riddick as he escapes from bounty hunters and saves the known universe from a group of religious fanatics called the Necromongers.
The Riddick franchise has long been a passion project for Diesel, who told GamesRadar that Furya, the long-in-the-works fourth installment of the series has been written and that it could soon begin production in Australia if the timing works out.
The Riddick franchise got its start way back in 2000 with the space horror film Pitch Black, which followed the passengers of a crashed spaceship on an inhospitable desert planet and have to content not only with an escaped serial killer—Riddick—but the planet’s ravenous wildlife. The film was a bit of a cult hit, and spawned a sequel in the form of The Chronicles of Riddick, which kept some of the first film’s horror elements, but introduced a bit more straight-forward space opera flair. Accompanying the film was Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, a short anime film, along with a video game, Escape from Butcher Bay. (There’s been a couple of other video games along the way as well.)
Twohy and Diesel reunited 2013 for a third, low-budget installment of the series, (simply called Riddick), which saw its titular character betrayed and left to die on another inhospitable planet, where he’s hunted by alien creatures and mercenaries. The film garnered so-so reviews, but Diesel (who owns the rights to the franchise—his payment for appearing in Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift) has been saying for years that he wanted to continue the series with a fourth installment, Furya.
Word on that fourth installment has been scarce in the years since, and I was amused to see that Diesel was still repping the franchise (in the form of a Furyan shirt) as he’s been doing PR work for his latest film, Fast & Furious 9:
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On that press tour, GamesRadar went out and asked him what the status was. Diesel noted that “it’s safe to say that we are moving towards filming the fourth chapter of Riddick,” and that Twohy “wrote a great script” for the film. They’re apparently eyeing a shoot in Australia, and noted that it’s a “matter of timing when we get that opportunity to shoot that.”
As to what a fourth installment of the film might cover? The title of the project seems like a good indication that Twohy and Diesel will explore the Furyans a bit more. They were a nearly-extinct race of humans with some special abilities, of which Riddick is a member. The Furyans were largely wiped out by the Necromongers because of a prophecy that one of their leaders would be overthrown by a member of the race, which turned out to be Riddick.
That’s if the film is made: Twohy is working on a film called Ice Moon Rising (Set to come out in 2022), and Diesel is coming off of F9, was in Avatar 2, is voicing a character in an animated series called ARK, is reprising his role as Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (and a GotG Holiday Special), a movie called Muscle, and Fast & Furious 10. It’s safe to say that he’s pretty busy, and hopefully, he’ll be able to make some time to return to the pulpy, horror-tinged world of Riddick for another adventure.
Yes . . . yes . . .YES!!! You’re not the only fan!
Twohy and Diesel reunited 2013 for a third, low-budget installment of the series, (simply called Riddick), which saw its titular character betrayed and left to die on another inhospitable planet, where he’s hunted by alien creatures and mercenaries.
I know the budget played a role, but I always thought this was such a bizarre choice for the third film. They essentially jettisoned everything they established in the previous one by stranding him on a planet for almost the film’s entire duration. The ending of the second one suggested about a billion fascinating directions the franchise could go, “stranded on a planet, battle royale ensues” is among the least interesting. I’m all in for Riddick IV if it essentially acts as a second chance– the third one doesn’t have much to do with anything anyway, so it can pick up essentially where 2 left off.
Yeah, Pitch Black was outstanding, The Chronicles of Riddick was really solid, and Riddick was poor (and had a weird line in tiresome and odd misogynistic humour). So a fourth film could be good, but I’m wary after the third film crashed hard.
Oh, I love these movies so much. Riddick was, of course, the worst of the trilogy, but I still enjoyed it. I love the mythology & the universe they’ve created. Can’t wait for more!!
Are there really only a few people who enjoyed the Chronicles of Riddick? If so, count me among those few, too!
I’m pleased to hear that Riddick 4 might see the light of day in the not-too-distant future!
The first third of Riddick which Diesel trying to survive alone on the planet was pretty good. Unfortunately it turns into another Pitch Black reboot after that.
I’d love to see Riddick 4.
Yeah, I was sorry Chronicles was followed up, it was great world building.
I’m still waiting for sequel to Babylon AD !
A good friend of mine hugely enjoyed Chronicles – I liked it and agree it would have made a better jumping off point for sequels than what we got in the third film, which I only went to see because, again, the good friend really, REALLY wanted to see it in theaters even though we all knew he would buy the DVD (and eventually the bluray). Sadly, this friend passed away a few years back so IF this ever sees the light of day, I will likely watch it, but from a DVD (or stream).
oh man, I hope they prioritize the new Riddick. (next to baby Groot) that’s my favorite role of Diesel’s. :D
I also adore The Chronicles of Riddick.
It always felt to me like the start of something special. The sequel was enjoyable to some extent but a huge let-down in other ways with the smaller scope. Chronicles just felt so epic. And the secret sauce was some bang-on casting. Just consider this list:
Colm Feore
Keith David
Karl Urban
Thandiwe Newton
Alexa Davalos
Judi Dench
Linus Roache
And let’s not forget Riddick’s perfect foil, the mercenary captain Toombs, played to perfection by Nick Chinlund, clearly having a lot of fun.