Quick LinksRiddick Was a Passion Project for Vin Diesel Vin Diesel Said He Would’ve Been ‘Homeless’ if Riddick Failed
Including his cameo in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Vin Diesel has played the character Dominic Toretto a whopping nine times. And, yet, that’s not the character from his filmography that he holds closest to his heart. It’s actually Richard B. Riddick, the scene-stealing role in 2000’s Pitch Black, which was released one year before the first Fast and the Furious movie had even sped onto the big screen.

After catching Stephen Spielberg’s attention with 1997’s Strays (which Diesel starred in, wrote, directed, and produced), Diesel got his first big-budget movie role in Saving Private Ryan. Then, he voiced the title character in The Iron Giant and co-starred with Giovanni Ribisi in Boiler Room. But Pitch Black, which still had Diesel as a supporting actor, allowed him to dive into a truly unique, layered character and make him his own.

With a cult following and $53.2 million box office against a fairly slim price tag of $23 million, the genre pic did fairly well. In fact, it did well enough to make Universal Pictures studio heads feel that the character was memorable enough to lead a big-budget franchise. And, with that, 2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick was born. Unfortunately, it only grossed $115.8 million against a budget of around $105 million to $120 million. So, perhaps the character couldn’t lead a big-budget franchise. But Diesel still had hope (and a lot of love for the criminal with a code). He believed the character could still lead his own IP; it would just do well without a lot of financial excess, adding to the pressure of its potential success.

Release Date September 2, 2013 Runtime 119

Riddick Was a Passion Project for Vin Diesel

Both Diesel and director David Twohy (who helmed all three of the films) were pretty optimistic regarding a follow-up to Chronicles ever since its release. But, given the poor critical and commercial reception, they were aware it would be somewhat of an uphill battle, and the end result would likely carry a low budget. Two years after Chronicles hit theaters, Diesel agreed to cameo in the aforementioned Tokyo Drift in exchange for the rights to both the Riddick character and the Riddick franchise as a whole.

With this move, Diesel and Twohy could craft a solo Riddick movie that was exactly as they intended, free from studio constraints. In other words, one equipped with a PG-13 rating that doesn’t work for the character but makes the final product accessible on a macro scale. This time, the movie would be produced by the star’s One Race Films, but not as a co-production with Universal like The Chronicles of Riddick was.

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It could also be a bit less of an epic, an ensemble piece. It could be more personal to the title character. And that’s precisely what 2013’s Riddick, which follows the vision-impaired murderer as he’s stranded on a remote planet only to come across some newly-landed mercenaries, is.

Vin Diesel Said He Would’ve Been ‘Homeless’ if Riddick Failed

As Diesel told The Hollywood Reporter back when Riddick was released in 2013, creating his and Twohy’s vision came at great personal cost. In his words: “I had to leverage my house. If we didn’t finish the film, I would be homeless.” Charmingly enough, he was partly inspired to put so much into it thanks to the words of a Riddick fan.

“‘We want a rated-R movie and we’d be willing to pay $10 each. Surely you’d have enough to make it then.’ Something about that comment made me think, bless their heart, and if I can do anything with this newfound success, if I could do anything at all, I could deliver on that wish.”

And it paid off, too. With a budget of $38 million, Riddick’s budget wasn’t much higher than Pitch Black, which is impressive considering there was nearly a decade and a half’s worth of inflation between the two. Now, it only generated $98.3 million, so it didn’t outgross The Chronicles of Riddick, but with a third of the cost behind it, the threequel didn’t need to.

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What’s even more important is that Diesel did, in fact, deliver on that fan’s wish. Riddick is as R-rated as it should have been. It’s night and day better than the bloated second movie and nearly as fun as Pitch Black. It was also successful enough to continue the franchise, with a fourth installment titled Riddick: Furya in development.

Like with the previous film, Diesel has been peppering his Instagram with art and storyboard teases for Riddick’s next adventure, so here’s hoping it hits the big screen sooner rather than later. In addition, fans want to see it do well enough to ensure a fifth and final installment, which is how Diesel and Twohy want it. They can end the over-arching narrative on their terms in a way that, of course, fans would appreciate. Riddick is available to rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play.