Outside of the “Fast & Furious” franchise (which, to be fair, is absolutely massive), Vin Diesel has yet to really branch out and really headline his own major film series. Sure, he’s made plenty of attempts with franchises such as ‘xXx’ and ‘Riddick’ (hell, just a month or so ago, he kickstarted a new potential franchise with “Bloodshot”), but you’d have to be very generous to call any of those “hits.” That being said, Vin Diesel is nothing if not persistent.
On Friday, Diesel posted a new video on his Instagram with the caption, “Happy Furyan Friday… The latest Chronicles of Riddick script comes in next week. GRRR!”
That’s right. A new script for a brand-new “Chronicles of Riddick” film.
The “Chronicles of Riddick” franchise began 20 years ago in the sci-fi/horror film, “Pitch Black,” where audiences were introduced to Diesel’s badass character. From there, the character spun off into his own adventures, in the 2004 feature “The Chronicles of Riddick.” That film expanded greatly on the universe introduced in “Pitch Black,” with Diesel and filmmaker David Twohy clearly wanting to create their own “Star Wars”-esque series. Of course, even with the ‘Fast’ actor at the height of his career, ‘Riddick’ didn’t necessarily become a massive hit.
However, almost 10 years later, in 2013, a film, simply titled “Riddick,” aimed to revive the character and the mythology yet again. Unfortunately, that film didn’t do what Diesel and Twohy hoped for, only earning a little more than $98 million worldwide at the box office. That being said, because the film had a fairly modest sub-$40 million budget, “Riddick” can’t be deemed a complete bomb.
READ MORE: Vin Diesel Says ‘Furious 7’ Ending Is The “Best Moment In Cinematic History”
Now, here we are with “Chronicles of Riddick 4.” We’re not sure what the fourth film might look like, who might co-star alongside Diesel, or if Twohy will be back to helm the feature. But with the actor’s fame approaching critical mass thanks to the billion-dollar success of recent ‘Fast’ films, it’s clear that he’s really wanting to give a new ‘Riddick’ film a shot.
If you’re interested in learning more about the ‘Riddick’ franchise, here are the trailers for the first three films. Pay special attention to the jump in scope between “Pitch Black” and ‘Chronicles.’ It’s pretty startling.