2000’s Pitch Black was a massive underground hit. It engendered a cult following and introduced the little-known Vin Diesel to much of the world well before his breakout role in the Fast & Furious films. The sequel, however, titled The Chronicles of Riddick, didn’t enjoy the same level of success, commercially or critically. Obviously, the fans were disappointed.
Last year’s Riddick made up for all that though and moviegoers got back on board with the character, enough to help the film reach number one in DVD and Blu-Ray sales during its first week of release. Due to this, Universal is now looking to move ahead with the fourth film in the franchise.
The news comes to us from Vin Diesel himself in the form of a celebratory video. Pausing from an ecstatic recital of Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse,” Diesel thanked his fans for the DVD and Blu-Ray success.
“I’m just excited, and happy, and I’m shouting out to you guys to say thank you. Universal just called me and told me Riddick is number one on the DVD charts. There’s no way Riddick would have been made without you guys. You know that. and you guys have been a part of our page since 2012 and remember how arduous a road it was to get the movie made, and to make it rated ‘R,’ and to do it with such a low budget. It’s a win for all of us and I really, really thank you so much.”
He then added:
“Yeah, I’m excited and of course, Universal also says they want to develop the next one.”
Here’s hoping that the filmmakers put in the effort and produce another worthy follow-up. We’ve all seen sequels that were rushed into production simply to cash in on a hot property, and the same could easily happen here. There’s a whole heap of potential in the Riddick series and as a longtime fan of the movies, I can only hope that they don’t mess it up.