Vin Diesel Has a Big Bone in ‘Riddick’

Vin Diesel has been smart about how to use Facebook to build hype for his upcoming film 'Riddick.' Universal may not be as hyped on the third film in the 'Pitch Black' franchise as its star, but even though filming is done, Diesel is trotting out images for fans to peruse while it waits for a release date. Check out the full image...

Diesel obviously has a great passion for this film and series, and after the success of 'Fast and Furious' and 'Fast Five' he had the clout to make another one. Unfortunately, the last film - 'The Chronicles of Riddick' - was given a hundred million-plus budget and only made $58 Million domestically and about the same internationally.

In that way this project is similar to 'Tron: Legacy' - though that had a bit more fan support. The character of Riddick is such that it could work as a stand-alone feature (all previous films have), so perhaps the goodwill of the last couple 'Fast' movies could help get the film on people's radars, and the growing interest in fantasy as seen with the success of 'Game of Thrones' could also make this more successful than the last entry. No release date is set, but Diesel has said the soonest would be January 2013. This comes from Diesel's Facebook page.