How The Chronicles Of Riddick Failed Into A Franchise

The worst mistake you made

Empty gun rack. There are only slight differences between a passion project

an obsession, narcissism, and ego. In some cases, that wholehearted belief is enough to carry a franchise by sheer willpower

In the case of Chronicles of Riddick, each idea led into the next, until somehow

almost 25 years after its release, the franchise is still alive. Released in 2000, Pitch Black was directed by David Tui from a script he co-wrote with brothers

Ken and Jim Wheat. While Tui had worked steadily as a writer, his experience as a director was

fairly limited. But that inexperience forced Tui to create a script that would work within

the confines of a small budget while still wringing every bit of suspense he could manage

The plot was classic spinner-rack sci-fi. A spaceship carrying a dangerous prisoner and

his captor crashes on a mystery-riddled alien planet, whose most terrifying aspect happens to

be the prisoner's greatest strength. They're pitted against a horde of nocturnal creatures

While our criminal has had a black market surgery, that lets him see in the dark

You pay him 20 menthol cools to do a surgical shine job on your eyeballs

So he can see you sneaking up on you in the dark. Exactly. At least that's what we're told in the first movie, but we'll get to that a little bit later

For this movie, it's a pretty wonderful bit of character exposition that he's augmented himself

in order to be more efficient at his chosen profession. Crime. We're not told much about

our antihero. It's mostly warnings on behalf of Riddick's captor, William Johns, played by Cole

Houser, a mercenary posing as an intergalactic lawman. There is something so undeniably charming

in Diesel's portrayal, and that almost wasn't the case. As the story was initially being developed

Steven Seagal was considered for a role with director Toohey, outright refusing to work with the notoriously difficult actor

He admitted that Diesel didn't give the best audition, but he saw something there

While mostly known for a supporting role in Saving Private Ryan Diesel dedication to the role of Riddick is infectious Riddick is a murderer and thief in the vein of Snake Plissken Call me Snake From Escape from New York In the

same way Kurt Russell elevated Snake, Diesel makes our begrudging antihero someone we cheer for

Even after the movie's success of over $53 million, more than double its initial budget

it wasn't until the release of Fast and Furious in 2001 that Diesel became a household name

On the back of that movie's success, Chronicles of Riddick was greenlit. Armed with a $120 million budget, David

Toohey returned as director and maintained sole screenwriter credit. Naming the movie after the breakout character

immediately established the idea that the creators planned to give us more of what we wanted

or at least what they thought we wanted. Give me your soul

While the initial script for Pitch Black focused on an ensemble cast, Toohey and Diesel

saw Riddick as the breakout character. There is a reverence and worship of Riddick all over Chronicles

Instead of the tight survival horror of Pitch Black, we now have a sort of intergalactic epic fantasy

We're introduced to the Necromongers, a space cult who worships death and annihilation

steadfast on wiping out entire planets. We're also now told that Riddick is one of the last remaining Furians

a race of mythic warriors from the planet Furium. Do you remember your home world

Where it was? Have you met any others? Others like yourself. Sister, they don't know what to do with just one of me

It's clear from the onset here that Tui and Diesel have plans that were just not established in the character's initial outing

It seems like they intended Chronicles to be the start of their Lord of the Rings with Pitch Black being the Hobbit-esque introduction to the world

The disconnect here is that the Hobbit was an introduction to the world of Middle Earth, whereas nothing was ever intended beyond Pitch Black

Instead of the thoughtfulness of a planned grand story, Tui and Diesel used Chronicles to retcon the character

and remold him into a space Conan. Whereas we had Riddick make the conscious decision

to have a surgery on his eyes in pitch black, Chronicles tells us that this is a trait of all Furians part of their natural evolution as efficient warriors While you could make the argument Riddick lied about the surgery to hide his Furian lineage it completely undercuts one of the character core ideals his dedication to a life he chose

But the lean choices of a criminal aren't of interest to Diesel and Tui. In Chronicles of

Riddick, the two are bound and determined to make Riddick a savior, not just a reluctant savior of

a crashed ship's crew, but the entire universe. And it just wasn't what the audience wanted

Only grossing about $110 million, it was a financial failure panned by critics

But with complete disregard to the movie's performance, Diesel and Tui were dead set

on continuing the franchise. As the Fast and Furious franchise continued to make money hand

over fist, Diesel leveraged his role to gain the rights to Riddick from Universal. Agreeing to

cameo in Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, he waived his fee in exchange for the rights. Diesel and

Tui would try to tap back into what made Pitch Black work with 2013's Riddick. Our main character

has distanced himself from the title of commander of the Necromongers and is, again, hunted by both

alien creatures and mercenaries. A lot of the movie feels overly dialed in, a sharp course

correction that is more jarring than comforting. Everything feels a little hollow, even if we know

how much Diesel believes in the project. When the money dried up, he put his own home on mortgage

until the bank's loans went through. And while that's admirable, there just isn't enough of a

backbone to rest these hopes upon. As the franchise carried on, simplicity was shoved aside in favor

of establishing a universe. Diesel's entire career is made largely of his own fandom. From the 2015

The Last Witch Hunter, based on the actor's actual Dungeons and Dragons character, to the way he obsessively

wants to build a universe around what was his breakout role. On one hand, it's beautiful to see someone love something

as much as Vin Diesel loves wearing tank tops and goggles. On the other hand, it's frustrating

when we know that ideal universe in his mind is not what we loved about the first film Now what are you going to do to get that credit back What a big play Something splashing

The closest they have come so far is not 2013's Riddick, but maybe 2004's Chronicles

of Riddick, Dark Fury. Directed by the legendary creator of Aeon Flux, Peter Chung, the 30-minute animated

movie was intended to bridge the gap between Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick

Written by television writer Brett Matthews from a story by Toohey, Dark Fury hammers home what we

loved about Riddick, a reluctant hero working against all odds, opposed by wild villains and

over-the-top circumstances. The pure, fun, B-movie schlock is in full force without falling under the

weight of its wild universe expanding once. Diesel has stated that there is at least one more Riddick

movie en route, so far titled Riddick 4, Furia. Riddick is a strange outlier in Hollywood in that

it's a franchise kept alive by hubris alone. Diesel and Tui want this character to be a pop

culture icon, in the same vein of Snake Plissken or Evil Dead's Ash. Groovy. But post the original

film, something that could very easily be chalked up to the right movie at the right time

everything has fallen flat. Part of that may be its idea that Riddick isn't merely a charming

anti-hero, but some sort of trope-ridden chosen one. Or it could just be buying into a hype that

isn't really there. There's an idea in art that you often do one for them and one for you. More

often, the pet project is a small human piece. In the case of Riddick, Diesel's one for them

is the money-making, finely-tuned engine of Fast and Furious. Whereas the one for him is

unfortunately three for him and wrapped around his obsession with building a world nobody but

he and Tui really want. Whatever the general opinion on Riddick may be, Diesel is content

to build worlds and mythos around a secondary character from a small budget B-movie from

almost a quarter century ago. For Diesel, he's pushed a character along through determination

bartering, and undeniable enthusiasm. And really, that's lovely