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The Chronicles of Riddick is a 2004 sci-fi film featuring the characters established in Pitch Black. David Twohy wrote and directed the film and Vin Diesel co-produced. The Chronicles takes place five years after the events in Pitch Black, and is set 505 years in the future, where Riddick who's been in hiding is now forced back on the map after a bounty has been put on his head from a man he once knew. In the end he will find out that his true destiny is to rule the universe.

On a reported budget of $110 million the film was mostly shot in Canada where incentives were used to lower the budget to $105 million. Vin Diesel was payed $11 million for his role as the anti-hero, and ultimately kept pursuing Judi Dench to star in the movie. The film was shot over the course of 85 days on sound stages using green screens and sets. The original plans were to introduce a new trilogy and lore, one that would rival the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, but ultimately the movie bombed at the box office. The Chronicles only brought in $57,761,012 in domestic receipts and $58,011,721 in foreign receipts, this caused Universal to shelf Riddick for good.

In an interview David Twohy commented on what would have been a massive trilogy into the Underverse.

“Had Universal said to us, ‘Let's roll over, let's pick it up right at the end of the last movie’ and funded it, we would have ventured into the Necromonger underverse and we would have had a big The Lord of the Rings-style movie on our hands. But That didn't happen, so cleverly Vin and I got the rights back and produced it ourselves on a smaller scale. That said, it still looks like a big movie. I think the audience will see the tip of the hat to Pitch Black, but they won't feel claustrophobic.” -David Twohy

From the Chronicles came two video games. Escape from Butcher Bay and Assault on Dark Athena, that were well received which expanded on Riddick's previous back-story.

Sometime in 2009 Vin Diesel and David Twohy acquired the rights of Riddick from Universal and a new film entitled Riddick  was released September 6, 2013.

Plot

The Necromongers are introduced as a militant death cult bent upon destroying intelligent life to trigger the end of all things, "Underverse come." Toward this end they occupy planets to recruit new cult members who are used to further the destruction of more planets. The Necromongers are led by a Lord Marshal, an all-powerful yet politically fraught position. "You keep what you kill" is a Necromonger operative phrase that applies to even the late Lord Marshal itself. Important Necromongers include the Purifier, ambitious but devout commander Vaako, and Dame Vaako, his manipulative and clever wife.

After the events of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, Riddick lived on the icy planet U.V.6 for five years. He believed that no one except Abu al-Walid, also known as Imam, knew where he was. Bounty hunter Toombs and his crew suddenly appeared and tried to capture Riddick, but he escaped. Riddick headed to Helion Prime to question Abu al-Walid. He was angry because he trusted Imam and was betrayed.

Riddick And Aereon

Riddick with Aereon

When confronted by an angry and dangerous Riddick, Abu al-Walid revealed that he told Riddick's whereabouts to Aereon, an Elemental who is looking for Furyans, to whom he revealed Riddick's revelation about being strangled with his umbilical cord because it might well mark Riddick a survivor of that ill-fated planet. In times past, Elemental calculations indicated Furyans might be the only race capable of countering the Necromongers and restoring Balance back to the universe. Unfortunately, a seer (possibly Aereon herself, and under duress per the novelization) revealed this calculation to the Necromonger Zhylaw in the form of a prophecy that a son of Furya would bring his downfall. This prompted the preemptive attack by Zylaw -- the then or soon to be the Lord Marshal -- 30 years earlier that destroyed Furya and 'artfully' arranged for Zylaw's potential rivals to be strangled with their birth cords. Although the number of Furyans who survived were evidently few, Aereon had not given up hope that they -- or perhaps just one, if it was the right one -- could still halt the Necromonger tide.

Hearing of Riddick and his violent birth from Imam prompted Aereon to put up the private $1.5 million alive bounty -- a greater bounty than any law enforcement agency was offering -- seeking to arrange Riddick's expedient relocation to Helion Prime. Toombs and his crew's capture failed, but the attempt succeeded in drawing Riddick to Abu al-Walid, and to Aereon, where she told him of the Necromongers in hopes of gaining his assistance in their defeat. Riddick was uncooperative. After this conversation, Abu al-Walid also told Riddick that Jack had left years earlier, looking for Riddick and that she had finally been captured and sent to the prison planet Crematoria.

Nec

Necromonger invasion of Helion Prime.

The Necromongers then invaded Helion Prime. During his brief capture, Riddick was revealed to be a Furyan, as Aereon suspected. He escaped, but was almost instantly recaptured by Toombs and his new crew. Because Aereon was also captured and so was not able to pay the ransom, Toombs took Riddick to Crematoria, a planet that during its daytime is too hot to sustain any life. The prison is located underground.

Riddick there made contact with Jack, now called Kyra. The warden discovered the Necromongers had sent a group, headed by Vaako, to track down the dangerous Furyan and destroy him, because the Lord Marshal knew about and believed the prophecy. A gunfight erupted, with the staff emerging victorious. The warden and guards departed, running through man-made tunnels towards the ship hangar, locking the rest of prison down to prevent the inmates from escaping. Riddick, Kyra, and some of the inmates decided to reach the hanger first by traveling on the surface, surviving by keeping pace with the temperate zone created between the scorching heat and freezing cold of Crematoria's daily cycles. They reach the hangar, but Vaako and his contingent of soldiers have arrived on the planet, hastily taking out the warden and his guards. Riddick and company are forced to fight the Necromongers.

In the last extremity, Riddick generates an incredible burst of energy that knocks out many of his assailants. The effort drains Riddick, who falls to the ground unconscious. As the deadly sun rises over Crematoria, Vaako leaves Riddick for dead and takes Kyra, who fled to the Necromonger ship when she also assumed Riddick to be dead, back to the Necromonger citadel. On the surface of Crematoria, the Purifier grabs Riddick and moves him out of the sun, saving his life. The Purifier reveals that he was once a Furyan before walking into the sunlight to die.

Riddick flies Toombs's ship back to Helion Prime, intending to rescue Kyra. He infiltrated the mother ship, where he was seen but not reported by the ambitious Dame Vaako. Riddick challenged the Lord Marshal, who revealed Kyra had been converted to their faith. The Lord Marshal's supernatural abilities overwhelm Riddick, but just before the Lord Marshal could strike the death blow, Kyra stabbed him in the back. He backhanded her into a spike on a column, mortally wounding her, then called on Vaako to help him. Instead of moving to assist, Vaako moved to kill his Lord Marshal forcing Zhylaw to flee, only to find himself directly in front of Riddick. Riddick stabbed the Lord Marshal in the head, killing him.

Kyra died in Riddick's arms, after which he collapsed on the Necromonger throne. It was then the Legion Vast knelt before their new Lord Marshal and Riddick realized what he had done. "You keep what you kill."

Cast

Trailer

The_Chronicles_of_Riddick_Official_Trailer_1_-_Colm_Feore_Movie_(2004)_HD

The Chronicles of Riddick Official Trailer 1 - Colm Feore Movie (2004) HD

Gallery

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