The cult hit Sci-fi action/horror movie Pitch Black introduced audiences to survivalist Riddick, played by Vin Diesel; which eventually gave rise to a bigger-budgeted followup, The Chronicles of Riddick, which under-performed both critically and financially. However, after nine years of stop-and-go progress and relative shoestring budgeting, a third installment was released last year, in the form of Riddick.
Riddick directed by David Twohy (Also the Director of Pitch Black), on it’s release managed to eclipse its $38 million budget in the U.S. and grossed $98 million around the globe. That made the movie a profitable endeavor (not accounting for marketing), but it wasn’t clear if that was good enough to keep Universal interested in making a fourth Riddick installment, until now.
According to the LA Times, Riddick was the best-selling DVD and Blu-ray title during its first week of release. Universal took notice and reached out to Diesel, who then shared the good news with his 63 million Facebook fans in a video that starts off with him dancing and lip-syncing to Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” (see for yourself), before he then provides the following explanation (at the 3:12 mark):
“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.”
Although the film was called a rehash of the First movie ‘Pitch Black’ by many, it was still able to please it’s fans. Maybe in future films the Riddick Universe would be explored more and we will get a board view of what really goes on in the Necromonger universe.