Video Games

There are few movies that get my sci-fi blood pumping more than The Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black. Both of these movies have great plots, lots of great action and hold true to the way sci-fi should be. The entire universe of Riddick is rich and not only includes the two movies, but also a hit video game (The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay) and an animated short film called The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.

Sadly (chuckling) I own three copies of The Chronicles of Riddick on DVD including the The Original Release, the The Unrated Director’s Cut and the Riddick Trilogy. I even purchased the animated film The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury before I discovered it was bundled with the Riddick Trilogy. Surely I’ve spent enough money to fund a third Riddick movie!

A sequel would be nice. Unfortunately the movie The Chronicles of Riddick bombed in the theaters, temporarily holding back the reigns on a possible sequel. The movie also got mixed reviews, which I still don’t understand. The movie cost $105 million to make and only made $115 globally. Luckily it appears that DVD sales, video game sales and merchandise have helped make the movie profitable.

There hasn’t been much information for a possible sequel, but I feel pretty good that it will happen. I’ll explain why. Back in 2006 ComingSoon.net featured an interview from Vin Diesel where he briefly talked about the possibility of a sequel. This is an excerpt from ComingSoon.net:

The ever so accommodating and entertaining Diesel was rather amusing and answered all of our questions without hesitation until I asked about “Riddick.” Oops, guess I unknowingly touched a nerve. Sorry about that Vin. But, he was very gracious and finally talked about it but only after he put his head in hands and sighed for a couple of minutes.

“My God. You know, now that you said that… I haven’t… Right before I did ‘Riddick,’ I would look in the mirror and I’d see two blue eyes staring back at me. So I haven’t seen that for a while. [laughs] But it’s coming. It took me five years to make ‘The Chronicles of Riddick,’ and [I'm] very precious about it. It went through many, many, many writers. Hopefully it won’t take five years for the next one. But when I was in the process of creating this mythology for ‘Chronicles of Riddick,’ the idea was to create a story, a trilogy, that would start at the end of ‘Pitch Black’ in the same way that ‘Lord of the Rings’ is a trilogy that starts at the end, essentially, of ‘The Hobbit.’ So I wanted ‘The Hobbit’… I wanted ‘Pitch Black’ to be ‘The Hobbit’ to ‘The Chronicles of Riddick.’ I wrote a storyline, essentially, that covered three pictures, so where Riddick goes in the next two pictures is already mapped out. It’s not in script form, but it is being all developed, and it is going to surface when you least expect it.”

It is rumored that The Chronicles of Riddick sequel will cover the Underverse and that the third Chronicles movie will feature a return to Furya.

Those comments aren’t the only reasons I suspect their will be a Riddick sequel. In Hollywood it all boils down to money. Will a sequel be profitable? I mentioned earlier in in this post the video game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. This game was reviewed well and became an Xbox platinum hit. I enjoyed playing the game apart from the language being too strong for my taste.

There appears to be enough interest in the Riddick world/games that a second game is being released for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. This new Riddick game is called The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. The new game even has it’s own site up from Sierra Games (www.riddickgame.com). This game is also to include a cleaned up version of Butcher Bay.

Gamespot.com says about the game:

“This isn’t a case when we took the old-gen game and up-rezed it,” said Wanat. “All the textures are being redone so it truly looks like a next-gen game.” The producer also confirmed that developer Starbreeze, Universal Pictures, and Tigon Studios–Vin Diesel’s game company–are all collaborating on the new game. Diesel himself is also doing new voice work for the expanded storyline.

Wanat also confirmed that the PS3 version of the game will take advantage of the console’s motion-sensing Sixaxis controller. He called the controller “totally perfect” for the game’s shiv-based prison combat, but did not elaborate. Wanat also dodged questions about whether or not Assault on Dark Athena would have a multiplayer component, saying only “it would be beneficial if it did in the era of Xbox Live.”

[UPDATE 2] Early Wednesday, Sierra formally announced Assault on Dark Athena–and answered some of the questions Wanat left hanging. The game will indeed “for the first time in the Riddick universe, take action in intense multi-player combat.” Sierra clarified that said MP mode would be online-enabled. Both the 360 and PS3 editions of Dark Athena will be released later this year.

Sierra also revealed some plot details about the game. “The game introduces the ominous Merc-ship Dark Athena, which sits silent like a marauding spider, awaiting helpless prey in the dark reaches of the galaxy,” the publisher said in a statement. “Players must face a large, bloodthirsty operation led by the dreaded Captain Revas and her slaves-turned-controllable combat drones, storm though death-defying events and fight fierce enemies in a battle of malice and gore.”

In conclusion, I think the stars may be aligning themselves in favor of the Riddick universe. Here’s to hoping there’s a sequel in the very near future!