Riddick (film)

Rumors of a third film in the Chronicles of Riddick series had circulated since 2006.[3] At first, Twohy assumed that the film would be an independent, low-budget production, rather than being released by Universal Studios as the other films in the series had been.[4] Despite the second film's tepid reception, Diesel and Twohy remained optimistic about a third film, pushing it toward completion. "Everyone knows I love the Riddick character and I'm always working on it," Diesel asserted. "It just takes five years to make another one because David Twohy and I are so precise about it."[5] In 2006, Diesel agreed to make a cameo in Universal's film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in exchange for the ownership to the rights to the Riddick franchise and character.[6] Over the next four years, Diesel periodically posted information on his own Facebook page updating fans on the film's progress. In November 2009, shortly after Twohy had finished the script, he announced that pre-production work was underway.[7]

In April 2010, a review of the Riddick screenplay (it was then subtitled "Dead Man Stalking") appeared on the Coming Attractions website. "Free from the constraints of delivering a PG-13 movie, the dialogue in Dead Man Stalking is more suited to a film like Training Day; the mercs we meet are hard-living people, not those washout fakeout space mercs from a film like Alien: Resurrection", wrote reviewer Patrick Sauriol.[8] On February 9, 2010, Diesel confirmed in an update on his Facebook page that one of the locations used in the upcoming sequel would be the White Desert in Farafra, Egypt. He mentioned the terrain features, unique to the area, would lend to the off-planet atmosphere of the film.[9] On March 13, 2011, Diesel released a video on his official Facebook page in which he and Director David Twohy talk about the proposed third film. They reaffirmed that the movie will be rated 'R', like the first one (Pitch Black), a priority for them, and they plan to shoot it lean and quickly.[10]

In September 2011, it was announced that Karl Urban would reprise his role as Vaako from The Chronicles of Riddick.[11] In January 2012, it was announced that Katee Sackhoff and Matt Nable had also joined the cast.[12] Since they did not have enough money to shoot the film in its entirety, Diesel had to mortgage his house, obtain loans and spend most of his personal money on the production of the film, "I had to leverage my house," Diesel said. "If we didn't finish the film, I would be homeless."[13]

The first image of Vin Diesel on the film's set was released on January 20, 2012.[14] Filming began in January 2012 and concluded at the end of March 2012.[15] The film entered post production in April 2012.[15] The teaser trailer for the film was released on March 22, 2013 via Vin Diesel's official Facebook page.[15]

David Twohy promoting Riddick at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con

Riddick was met with mixed reviews. At the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 57% approval rating based on 168 reviews, with an average score of 5.3/10. The website's critical consensus states: "It may not win the franchise many new converts, but this back-to-basics outing brings Riddick fans more of the brooding sci-fi action they've come to expect".[16] Metacritic, another review aggregation website, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 49 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[17]

Alonso Duralde of TheWrap gave the film a negative review, saying "If you were to make a comedy about an actor who makes cheesy sci-fi action movies, and you needed a hilarious clip of his work that underscored the awfulness of his output, just about any 30-second segment of Riddick would do the trick".[18] Tom Huddleston of Time Out gave the film two out of five stars, saying "It's flavourless: the aliens are unscary and easily despatched, Vin's too silent to be interesting, and the other characters are either dull or offensive".[19] Scott Foundas of Variety gave the film a positive review, saying "An improbable but very enjoyable sequel that recaptures much of the stripped-down intensity of Diesel and director David Twohy's franchise starter Pitch Black."[20] Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, saying "Faithful to the template if not the spirit of previous installments, this flabby second sequel barely manages to advance Riddick's considerable personal mythology".[21] Keith Staskiewicz of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+, saying "Twohy succeeds in staging moments both tense and funny, but they're fewer and farther between than one would hope, and the dialogue is served up with a heaping helping of cheese, especially when delivered in Diesel's low-frequency growl".[22]

Riddick grossed $42,025,135 in North America, and $56,312,160 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $98,337,295.[2] In North America, the film opened to number one in its first weekend, with $19,030,375.[23] In its second weekend, the film dropped to number three, grossing an additional $6,841,800.[24] In its third weekend, the film dropped to number eight, grossing $3,656,620.[25] In its fourth weekend, the film dropped to number 13, grossing $1,607,145.[26]

Riddick was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 14, 2014.[27] The film grossed an additional $23,026,441 through domestic DVD and Blu-ray sales.[28]

A number of additions to the plot are included in the director's cut of the movie which was released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 14, 2014[29] and provided a longer story than the theatrical version.[30][31][32][33] The extended cut of the movie is approximately 8 minutes and 9 seconds longer[31] than the theatrical version and includes extended and additional scenes not seen in the theatrical version.

In the extended version, there is an additional scene which takes place aboard the Necromonger capital ship where Riddick kills Krone and finds out that Vaako has crossed the threshold into the Underverse, seen as a large hole in space surrounded by gas. Riddick looks out the window as he is told that Vaako has gone to achieve transcendence, where he is both dead and alive.[30][31]