Thinking about Fast & Furious in the middle of 2024 is thinking about Dominic Toretto, about Vin Diesel, but in the first years of this very successful saga of action and “street racing” from Universal Pictures they sought to continue their journey without counting on the actor. Thus, in the second installment we had Paul Walker back as Brian while in Fast & Furious: Tokyo Race we were presented with a more independent story with new characters… except the final cameo from Diesel.
Keep the money and give me this saga
This star appearance serves to give the film some cohesion with the franchise, although in later installments they managed to give it even more packaging, and to assure the audience that the protagonist of the first film would be back for Fast & Furious: Even Faster (Full Throttle 4). However, Vin Diesel had a very different blockbuster in mind when he accepted Universal’s offer, so much so that gave up a good wad of bills for this reason: to secure the distribution rights for Riddick and thus save the science fiction saga.
And the franchise, after the premiere of The Chronicles of Riddick in 2004, had been touched and sunk. That film was a true large-scale space epic, requiring an investment of 110 million dollars that the box office did not want or could reward, causing Universal to make losses with it and not even want to hear about the development of a possible sequel.
Riddick, a much more modest film
The plans to turn this story into a kind of The Lord of the Rings died there for the century-old film studio, but not for Vin Diesel who did not stop fighting to carry out the project and, building on Fast & Furious, get it They gave him the rights for a new film. This would be Riddick, it would be released in 2013 and it would be a clear step back in ambition, narrating a return to the roots with an expenditure of 38 million dollars, part of it financed by the leading actor himself, à la Francis Ford Coppola.
Faced with the epic presentation of a world of empires and stellar conquests, Riddick told a story of action and survival with Vin Diesel watching a group of fortune hunters perish in their search for a hostile, very hostile planet. Its plot was, thus, very similar to the film that started it all with Riddick, Pith Black. Better or worse, the truth is that his low investment made the project profitable and Riddick was saved from Hollywood oblivion thanks to a cameo in Fast & Furious.
Where to watch Riddick on TV
Paradoxically, agreeing to return to Fast & Furious made him the visible face of one of the most successful and prolific franchises of the 21st century, something that in the long run has deprived the audience of being able to see a fourth installment of Riddick. Luckily, the actor has a less busy schedule and Riddick 4 will be filming soon. While it arrives, today, May 23, you can enjoy Riddick on Be Mad starting at 10:39 p.m. (Peninsular time). Riddick is also available on Movistar Plus+.
Via | Collider
In 3DGames | Everyone ignored this science fiction fiasco in theaters that mixes Alien with Vikings and Beowulf produced by the creator of Star Citizen: Outlander
In 3DGames | It was a fantasy adventure failure with Gerard Butler and a Game of Thrones star who mixed mythology with superheroes; Gods of Egypt
