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Science fiction action media franchise From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chronicles of Riddick is an American science fiction space Western[1] media franchise created by brothers Ken and Jim Wheat and later continued by writer-director David Twohy. It follows the adventures of antihero character Riddick (either portrayed or voiced by Vin Diesel) in the 28th century.
The Chronicles of Riddick | |
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Created by | |
Original work | Pitch Black (2000) |
Owner | Universal Pictures |
Years | 2000–present |
Print publications | |
Novel(s) |
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Comics |
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Films and television | |
Film(s) |
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Short film(s) | The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) |
Television special(s) | Into Pitch Black (2000) |
Games | |
Video game(s) |
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The film series began with the release of Pitch Black (2000), which was written by director Twohy and brothers Ken and Jim Wheat from a story by the latter brothers. Since then, Twohy has solely written and directed two sequels, The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) and Riddick (2013), and was involved in the development of the storyline of a number of the series' offshoots.
In addition to the feature films, The Chronicles of Riddick fictional universe includes an animated short film and several video games, motion comics, and novelizations. A fourth film, entitled Riddick: Furya, is in development.
Riddick is transported to prison on the Hunter Gratzner, a commercial cargo spaceship. When the craft is damaged in the wake of a comet and makes an emergency crash landing on an isolated desert planet, Riddick escapes. However, when flying creatures begin attacking all the survivors, Riddick joins forces with the others to escape the planet.
After the release of the sequel titled The Chronicles of Riddick, this film has been referred to as The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black in subsequent home video re-releases.
Five years after the events of Pitch Black, Riddick evades bounty hunters and learns of a warrior army known as "The Necromongers". He is captured and sent to the prison planet Crematoria, where he reunites with Jack from the first film. Riddick escapes and battles with the Necromonger fleet, which ends with the defeat of the Lord Marshal and Riddick taking his place.
In 2006, Vin 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 character.[2] Encouraged by high DVD sales and Diesel's newly restored box office success, David Twohy wrote a script for a third film in the Riddick series.[3][4][5] The film was produced by Media Rights Capital and distributed by Universal, and was released on September 6, 2013.
Betrayed and left for dead by the Necromongers on a desolate planet, Riddick is forced to fight for survival against alien predators. He eventually realizes that an approaching storm will kill him and he must rely on mercenaries to escape.
In January 2014, Diesel announced on his Facebook page that Universal wished to develop a fourth Riddick film, again prompted by robust DVD sales of the most recent film in the series.[6] In April 2016, Vin Diesel confirmed that he and writer-director David Twohy were developing a fourth Riddick movie titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Furya. In May 2016, he explained that production on The Chronicles of Riddick: Furya may begin in early 2017. In a video, Vin Diesel asked: "Are you guys excited to hear about Furya? Do you want to know where it all began with that dark character Riddick?". David Twohy confirmed that the new film would be rated R.[7] On 21 July 2019, Diesel announced on his Instagram that he had received Twohy's script for Riddick 4: Furya.[8] In May 2022, an Instagram post from Vin Diesel also suggested that pre-production has moved on to the storyboarding phase.[9] Riddick: Furya, the fourth installment was announced in February 2023. Vin Diesel will again appear in the film and David Twohy has written the script and will direct the film.[10]
Dark Fury, an anime-inspired made-for-DVD animated film, acts as a bridge between the live-action films of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. It takes place shortly after Pitch Black and involves Riddick and the other two survivors of Pitch Black, Jack and Imam, and their run-in with a mercenary ship, as well as its captain who wishes to keep Riddick frozen as part of her collection of warriors from around the universe. It received mixed reviews.
Escape from Butcher Bay is a video game based on the Riddick series, released for the Xbox and Windows PC. It acts as a prequel to Pitch Black, and involves Riddick's escape from the eponymous prison, Butcher Bay. It was well received and is often listed among the greatest video games.
Assault on Dark Athena is a video game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, and Mac OS X computers. It includes an enhanced remake of Escape from Butcher Bay, and covers events between the previous game and Pitch Black. Reviews were mostly positive.
Riddick: The Merc Files is a touch-based stealth action game for Android and iOS devices. It was developed by Gaming Corps, a game developer founded by some of the original developers of the previous Riddick games.[11]
Into Pitch Black is a Syfy (formerly The Sci-Fi Channel) special which takes place before and after the events of Pitch Black. It mixes clips from Pitch Black into sequences focusing on a psychologist who studied Riddick in prison, the doctor who gave him his "eyeshine" ability, and a Lawman hiring a female mercenary to track Riddick months after Pitch Black. It shows several inconsistencies with the official storyline of the later sequels and video games and is non-canonical.[12]
In June 2004, David Twohy announced that he was writing the story basis for a SyFy television film/pilot episode for a proposed television series based on the Riddick character Kyra.[13]
In December 2015, Diesel announced on his Instagram account that both he and Twohy developed a TV series titled Merc City that will follow the Mercs and Bounty Hunters of the Riddick franchise.[14]
Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick have received novelizations of their scripts, by Frank Lauria and Alan Dean Foster respectively. These expand on elements of the films, most notably Pitch Black providing character backstory for Riddick and The Chronicles of Riddick describing the Necromongers and their religion in greater detail.
Pitch Black: Slam City is a short motion comic prequel to Pitch Black by animator Brian Murray with David Twohy which had been available for download at the Pitch Black website. Slam City is in the form of an official, confidential prison record detailing Riddick's arrival and escape from the Ursa Luna Slam City facility, in eleven hours and twenty-two minutes. Notably, it shows Riddick undergoing the surgery that gives him "eyeshine" — the ability to see in the dark — and paying for this with a pack of Kool cigarettes, as mentioned in Pitch Black. William J. Johns is seen at the end of the film being charged with capturing Riddick.
Riddick: Blindsided is a motion comic based on storyboarded scenes[15] of the third film that didn't make the theatrical cut. It takes place shortly before the events of Riddick and bridges that film with the previous one. The director's cut of Riddick reinserts most of the material covered in Blindsided back into the film. It was released online[16] a month before the release of the third film to generate buzz[17] and it is also included with the movie's home video release.[18]
Character | Films | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pitch Black | The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury | The Chronicles of Riddick | Riddick | |
2000 | 2004 | 2004 | 2013 | |
Richard B. Riddick | Vin Diesel | |||
Jack B. Badd / Kyra | Rhiana Griffith | Alexa Davalos | ||
Abu "Imam" al-Walid | Keith David | |||
Carolyn Fry | Radha Mitchell | |||
William J. Johns | Cole Hauser | |||
Paris P. Ogilvie | Lewis Fitz-Gerald | |||
Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery | Claudia Black | |||
John "Zeke" Ezekiel | John Moore | |||
Greg Owens | Simon Burke | |||
Alexander Toombs | Nick Chinlund | |||
Junner | Roger L. Jackson | |||
Antonia Chillingsworth | Tress MacNeille | |||
Siberius Vaako | Karl Urban | |||
Zhylaw / Lord Marshal | Colm Feore | |||
Aereon | Judi Dench | |||
Dame Vaako | Thandiwe Newton | |||
Purifier | Linus Roache | |||
The Guv | Yorick van Wageningen | |||
Lajjun | Kim Hawthorne | |||
Eve Logan | Christina Cox | |||
Colonel R. "Boss" Johns | Matt Nable | |||
Santana | Jordi Mollà | |||
Dahl | Katee Sackhoff | |||
Diaz | Dave Bautista | |||
Moss | Bokeem Woodbine | |||
Lockspur | Raoul Trujillo | |||
Vargas | Conrad Pla | |||
Luna | Nolan Gerard Funk | |||
Krone | Andreas Apergis | |||
Role | Film | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pitch Black | The Chronicles of Riddick | Riddick | Riddick 4: Furya | |
2000 | 2004 | 2013 | TBA | |
Director | David Twohy | |||
Producer(s) | Tom Engelman | Vin Diesel & Scott Kroopf | Ted Field & Vin Diesel | TBA |
Writer(s) | Ken Wheats, Jim Wheats & David Twohy | David Twohy | ||
Composer(s) | Graeme Revell | TBA | ||
Cinematographer(s) | David Eggby | Hugh Johnson | David Eggby | TBA |
Editor(s) | Rick Shane | Tracy Adams, Martin Hunter & Dennis Virkler | Tracy Adams | TBA |
Production company(s) | Gramercy Pictures Interscope Communications Polygram Filmed Entertainment |
Radar Pictures One Race Films |
TBA | |
Distributor | USA Films | Universal Pictures | ||
Runtime | 109 minutes | 135 minutes | 119 minutes | TBA |
Release date | February 18, 2000 | June 11, 2004 | September 6, 2013 | TBA |
Film | Release date | Box office gross | Production budget | Reference | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
North America | Other territories | Worldwide | ||||
Pitch Black | February 18, 2000 | $39,240,659 | $13,947,000 | $53,187,659 | $23 million | [20] |
The Chronicles of Riddick | June 11, 2004 | $57,761,012 | $58,011,721 | $115,772,733 | $105 million | [21] |
Riddick | September 6, 2013 | $42,025,135 | $56,312,160 | $98,337,295 | $38 million | [22] |
Total | $139,026,806 | $128,270,881 | $267,297,687 | $166 million |
Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
---|---|---|---|
Pitch Black | 60% (109 reviews)[23] | 49 (29 reviews)[24] | — |
The Chronicles of Riddick | 29% (165 reviews)[25] | 38 (34 reviews)[26] | B[27] |
Riddick | 57% (168 reviews)[28] | 49 (35 reviews)[29] | B[27] |
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