Vin Diesel will produce and appear in a third Chronicles of Riddick movie, and there's a good argument to be made that videogames helped keep the sci-fi/fantasy franchise's flame alive.
The second film in the series, 2004's The Chronicles of Riddick, was a critical disappointment. And though the film eventually grossed $116 million worldwide, according to Variety there's a good chance there wasn't much profit to be gleaned from that take. Some reports peg the movie's budget at $105 million.
So why create a sequel for a movie that just barely scratched out a profit? There's still interest in the ongoing adventures of Riddick. And videogames helped prove it. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher's Bay, developed by Starbreeze and released in 2004 for the Xbox, was a bona fide critical smash. The second videogame based on the series, Atari's The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, debuted in April 2009 to somewhat meager sales despite good reviews. Analyst Anita Frazier from The NPD Group reported that the game sold only 100,000 copies in its first month, making it the 9th best-selling Xbox 360 game that month.
That's not bang-up business by any means, but perhaps enough to prove that there's interest. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena told Hollywood two things. There's a core set of gamers still dedicated to keeping up with the Chronicles of Riddick. And, most importantly, that someone at Atari saw value in the Chronicles of Riddick franchise.
Maybe Atari's bet was a bad one, but when you've got money in the pot and someone keeps upping the ante, sometimes you throw a little more in just to stay in the game.
Image courtesy Atari
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