Diesel States Universal Want Another RIDDICK Film

It may not be as big a hit as other franchise films are for their studios, but apparently Riddick, the third film from actor Vin Diesel and writer/director David Twohy about an intergalactic mercenary swept up in events bigger than him, has earned enough money that Universal is ordering up another sequel.

Diesel himself made the announcement, embedded in the middle of a seven-minute video of himself dancing about to music, apparently happy over the news. The video is below and you can hear him give the news starting around the 3:10 mark, but if you don’t want to be bothered with all that, here is the text of what he said.

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. Yeah, I’m excited, and of course, Universal also says they want to develop the next one.

Despite only moderate box office in the United States for Riddick, the latest film in the series from the duo – approximately $42 million – the film pulled an impressive $56 million more overseas. Combine that with some healthy home video sales and it may be easy to see how the studio came to their decision.

The series launched in 2000, with the low budget Pitch Black which turned out to be a surprise minor hit for the studio, earning back well over twice its $23 million price tag in just US box office alone. A sequel, 2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick, cost much more but did not come near being as successful. It took Diesel and Twohy nearly eight years to convince Universal brass to allow them to go ahead with the third film. Apparently, it was the right decision.