Riddick: On a Roll

Syfy for thinking people - that may be the best way to describe the Riddick movies, the third of which debuts on September 6th. 

Diesel and Judi Dench in The Chronicles of Riddick

Riddick (Richard B.) is a fictional antihero and a 'whatever it takes' survivalist who winds up in very hostile environments and situations.  Riddick is a Furyan, a descendent of a warrior race which has been rendered near extinction.  Riddick has the ability
to see in the dark but his eyes, which are very light sensitive, require the use of protective goggles in normal light.

Launched in 2000 with the movie Pitch Black, and a sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick in 2004, Riddick has become a syfy cult figure and the upcoming third episode (entitled simply Riddick) is anticipated to be a box office blockbuster - I'm predicting a $70 million opening weekend even with a 'R' rating.

Vin Diesel, who portrays Riddick, is on a box office streak coming off this summer's earlier huge success of Fast &Furious 6 (F&F 7 is due out next July).  David Twohy (insert) has scripted and directed all three Riddick episodes. He was interviewed recently.

CMG: David, you have been quoted as saying you prefer the 'R' rating over the 'PG-13", why so?

DT: If you make it PG-13 then you have to make concessions, and that's what happened on The Chronicles of Riddick where we had to downplay a lot of our action sequences and remove a lot of the blood.  We found it was tying our hands, so we vowed not to do that again.

CMG: Why doesn't the new Riddick film take up where the Chronicles left off ?

DT: Had Universal said to us, "lets roll over, lets pick it up right at the end of the last movie" and funded it, we would have ventured into the Necromonger universe and we would have had a big The Lord of the Rings style movie. But that  didn't  happen, so cleverly Vin and I got the rights back and produced it ourselves on a smaller scale.  That said, it still looks like a big movie.  I think the audience will see the tip of the hat to Pitch Black, but they won't feel claustrophobic.

CMG: Best of luck David

Jim Lavorato