Even after Chronicles of Riddick became a big box office disappointment for Universal Pictures and actor/producer Vin Diesel, there's been talk of Riddick 3 for years. Diesel is passionate about the character which is exemplified in his work on the video games and voicing the character in an animated feature titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.

Diesel, along with Riddick's most loyal fans, knew there was opportunity to make another great film along the lines of his introduction in Pitch Black. So, working with director/writer David Twohy, the plan is bring Riddick back to his roots in a lower budget and grittier, harsher take on the character with no concessions being made for the big studio mainstream mentality.

As it should be.

Corona Coming Attractions posted an exclusive review of the script for Vin Diesel's third Riddick movie which is now titled Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking and we have the juicy details on it for you.

The last we heard on the project was that they were scouting locations in New Zealand a few months back and that the Riddick 3's story would follow Riddick on a barren planet playing the survival game. In the film, Vin Diesel's character would reportedly be combatting three-legged bisons ("trisons"), mud demons and bounty hunters who ride in style on jetcycles.

Reading through the script review, we know a lot more details about the movie now, including specifics as to how Dead Man Stalking will fit in with the events of Chronicles of Riddick which saw the title character seemingly become Lord Marshal to the Necromonger army by the end of the movie. There are definite spoilers and revelations about the story if you read on so be warned.

Riddick 3 early creature concept art

[Spoiler Alert]

We'll go through this bullet form to keep it short and to the point. Here are some key details about Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking:

  • Movie starts with Riddick on the ground of a barren planet, near death as he's surrounded by creatures that deem him as prey.
  • There are flashbacks to when Riddick took over the Necros which feature Karl Urban's character, Vaako.
  • Riddick has not fully accepted leadership and some aren't pleased. Assassins continue to come after him.
  • Riddick offers to give Vaako command if he takes him to his home planet of Furya.
  • Vaako agrees and on their trip, things go bad and he ends up where we see him at the start.
  • There's a big reveal about Riddick in the movie about a connection to a character previously seen in the franchise.
  • The script certainly earns its hard R-rating - violence and language is authentic Riddick.
  • Riddick is finally depicted as the hardcore human hunter he was hinted at being in Pitch Black.

It sounds to me like us Riddick fans are in for something special if this movie is done right. The film reportedly has a $60 million budget which isn't as small as I expected it to be, but that's a good thing with a lot of the scenes being described. It seems the investors Diesel sold the ideas and story on are very confident about the 100-page script.

I'm also very supportive of Twohy's and Diesel's strictness on bringing the character to screen the right way this time and that Riddick 3 have that R-rating.

Diesel is making his comeback and now that he's fully accepted the idea of sticking with the franchises that treat him well (Fast & Furious, XxX) I think there's a great opportunity with the next Riddick movie.

What do you think about the story of Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking?

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Source: Corona Coming Attractions (via IESB)