Vin Diesel is officially returning to the world of Pitch Black and galactic antihero Riddick, the sci-fi action franchise that gave the actor his first major leading role.
Riddick: Furya, which was announced in February 2023, is now moving full steam ahead toward an Aug. 26 shoot date, producers announced Monday. Diesel stars and produces the film, which reteams him with David Twohy, the filmmaker who has directed all of the franchise’s previous entries. Furya will film in locales such as Germany, Spain and the U.K.
Pitch Black, released by Universal in 2000, introduced Diesel as a captured criminal who, along with several other passengers, crash lands on a planet where sundown unleashes feral monsters. While the first one was made for $23 million, 2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick cost over $100 million, as the movie went big in scope. The route failed to excite audiences and it seemed like the movie series was over.
But Diesel quietly bought the rights to the franchise, exchanging them for an appearance in a Fast & Furious movie. The deal resulted in the 2013 entry Riddick, which brought the series back to its more modest, creature feature roots.
In Furya, which Diesel and Twohy have been developing and teasing since 2014, Riddick finally returns to his home world, a place he barely remembers and one he fears might be left in ruins. But there he finds other Furyans fighting for their existence against a new monster. And some of these Furyans are more like Riddick than he could have ever imagined.
Diesel is producing under his One Race Films banner alongside his partner and sister, Samantha Vincent. Thorsten Schumacher for Rocket Science and Lars Sylvest for Thank You Studios will also produce alongside Joe Neurauter.
Rocket Science represented the international sales rights and has completed worldwide cornerstone presales to a slew of territories, including U.K. (yet to be announced), France (Metropolitan), Germany (Leonine), Spain and Latin America (Sun), Benelux (The Searchers), Poland (Kinoswiat), Canada (Elevation), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Portugal (Lusomundo), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), South Africa (Empire), Greece (Femeway), Middle East (Front Row), CIS and Baltic States (Volga), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech/Slovak, Republic Former Yugoslavia (ProRom) and Thailand (Sahamongkhol).
CAA Media Finance is repping the North American rights.
Diesel is repped by CAA and Linden Entertainment. Twohy is repped John Burnham of Atlas Artists.