Vin Diesel received a birthday present that he just had to share on Instagram— a completed script for ‘Riddick 4: Furya’, written by David Twohy, the filmmaker who directed Diesel in the first three films in this franchise.
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The cover of the script bears the tagline: “Everyone wants to be a beast until it’s time to do what real beasts do.” That may give a hint at the movie’s plot. This script has reportedly been in the works since 2014.
Twohy and Diesel introduced the character of Richard B. Riddick, in the 2000 sci-fi horror flick ‘Pitch Black‘. This former soldier and mercenary had cybernetic eyes that allowed him to see in complete darkness which he uses to help himself and a crew of misfits survive on a world overrun with giant carnivorous creatures. The movie ended up becoming a surprise hit and made Diesel a star.
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But the sequel ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ (2004) was a box office flop, due to its bloated budget of between $105-$120 million. But Twohy and Diesel decided to try again with a third film, ‘Riddick’, which had a slashed budget of $38M. Also by this time, the first two movies had developed an affectionate cult following. That resulted in ‘Riddick’ being a profitable hit, so it would make sense to deliver more. However, ‘Riddick’ came out in 2013. Is there still an audience for another ‘Riddick’ picture?
At the same time, ‘Riddick 4’ was announced, it was also stated that a TV series, ‘Merc City,’ was in development. It’s unclear whether that is still in the works.
Furya is the name of Riddick’s home planet. Diesel previously teased, “Are you guys excited to hear about Furia? Do you want to know where it all began with that dark character Riddick?” (It was spelled “Furia” before, but the new script says “Furya.”)
Diesel has moved on to the uber-successful ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise, and he has two more of those on the calendar. And he will reportedly appear in at least one of James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ sequels.
Are you excited that there might be another ‘Riddick’ movie on the horizon?
