Universal takes a risk with 'Riddick'

By John Horn

June 14, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Like every studio, Universal Pictures tries to minimize risk, filling its schedule with recognizable sequels to “The Bourne Identity” and “Meet the Parents,” a “King Kong” remake, and a “Curious George” movie. So how does a costly follow-up to what was once a direct-to-video horror movie fit the mold?

“The Chronicles of Riddick” at first appears to ignore the familiarity-breeds-profit logic that governs most big-budget moviemaking. But studios are so eager to exploit marketable ideas that they sometimes look for salvation in obscure places.

In the case of “Riddick,” which is loosely based on 2000’s “Pitch Black,” Universal downplayed the customary significance of the first film’s middling grosses and focused instead on its relatively robust DVD sales and fawning fan base.

The studio hopes it can emulate the history of “The Terminator,” “Mad Max” and “Austin Powers,” three torrential franchises that all started with just a light box-office sprinkle.

But it will take more than one weekend to prove franchise potential. “Riddick” was greeted by caustic reviews, and the film did not immediately set the box-office charts on fire.

As expected, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” remained the nation’s top film for the second straight weekend, grossing an estimated $35.1 million, according to preliminary figures released Sunday. Among the three new films debuting in wide release, “The Chronicles of Riddick” performed best, grossing an estimated $24.6 million for second place, slightly behind an industry-projected opening weekend of $26 million. “Shrek 2” continued to be hugely successful, finishing in third place with a gross of $24 million in its fourth weekend. Of the other new films, the poorly reviewed “The Stepford Wives” reported ticket sales of $22.2 million in fourth, while “Garfield: The Movie” grossed $21.7 million for fifth.

Direct to ... franchise?

While some summer sequels like “Spider-Man 2” come on the heels of a widely popular and heavily promoted predecessor, “Riddick” began life far from the spotlight. In fact, “Pitch Black,” the film that introduced antihero Richard B. Riddick, nearly debuted in Blockbuster stores.

“By the time we finished production, we were an orphan film,” says David Twohy, who directed “Pitch Black” and “The Chronicles of Riddick.”

The first film, made for a modest $23 million, told a futuristic tale of a spacecraft’s crashing on a remote planet inhabited by scary creatures that come out when it’s dark. Unfortunately for the motley crash survivors, the planet is about to experience a very long solar eclipse. If not for the reluctant gallantry of a heavily muscled and goggle-wearing inmate named Riddick, played by the then-unknown Vin Diesel, no one but some fatted creatures will be alive by morning.

“Pitch Black” was produced by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, which became part of Universal in a 1998 merger. After first contemplating a direct-to-video release, the film’s distributor, USA Films, decided to release the movie theatrically. But Universal, which now carried “Pitch Black” on its balance sheet thanks to the PolyGram merger, didn’t think USA’s marketing campaign was taking full advantage of the dark appeal of its Riddick character.

“It was an awkward scenario,” says Marc Schmuger, who was then Universal Pictures’ marketing chief and is now the studio’s vice chairman. “The movie wasn’t part of our release schedule, but it had become part of our budget. I felt this thing had potential.”

With only a few days to go before “Pitch Black” premiered in February 2000, Universal reworked a couple of TV ads, focusing more on the action and on Riddick. In a matter of weeks, a movie that was projected to gross $4 million in its opening weekend ended up reporting ticket sales of more than $11.3 million in its first three days.

The film ultimately grossed a respectable $39.2 million, slightly better than 1984s “The Terminator,” and far more than 1980s “Mad Max,” which launched the “Road Warrior” movies.

But “Pitch Black’s” box-office receipts, which included a tepid $14 million overseas, told only part of the story.

“The first movie had not done all that well,” says Ted Field, who produced “Pitch Black” and “Riddick.” “But it became a phenomenon on DVD,” selling more than 2 million units. (Universal has just issued another “Pitch Black” DVD.)

What’s more, the Riddick character was capturing pop culture heat. Although Twohy at first had mixed feelings about casting Diesel in “Pitch Black,” the director edited the film to give the actor more of a presence, picking him to narrate the film’s prologue. “This is the character Vin was born to play,” Field says. “I thought this was a character that could be a franchise.”

In 2001, Diesel played an equally broody hulk in “The Fast and the Furious.” When it was a huge hit, Universal stepped up efforts to make another “Pitch Black” film. “Riddick just seemed like a character with potential,” says Stacey Snider, Universal’s chairwoman.

Universal hired David Hayter (“The Scorpion King”) and then Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman (“A Beautiful Mind”) to work on sequel screenplays, but the studio was never that enthusiastic about their ideas.

“We were trying to do more ‘Pitch Black 2,’ more of the same story, a guy running around with different creatures,” says Scott Stuber, Universal’s vice chairman of worldwide production. “We never really found our footing. We didn’t want to spend money just to make it bigger and louder.”

The studio eventually returned to an outline Twohy had sent them months earlier, and hired him to write and direct the film. Rather than concoct a straight sequel, Twohy imagined a totally different concept of an intergalactic holy war, with Riddick at its center. It was enough of a new direction that the film wouldn’t be called “Pitch Black 2.”

In place of “Pitch Black’s” bare-bones duel between humans and aliens, “Riddick” had at its center a large-scale clash involving the Necromongers, a violent humanoid sect crusading to rule the galaxies. If the first film had been a low-budget horror flick, this new film would be an epic sci-fi adventure. And it would be coming out in the middle of the summer.

“When you are looking to compete in the summer, you have to give people enough action and enough spectacle,” Snider says. That means spending a lot of money. In addition to paying for expensive special effects, Universal hired an ensemble cast that included Judi Dench. “Riddick” cost about $110 million, or about five times the budget of “Pitch Black.”

Diesel’s changing role

Diesel’s involvement, meanwhile, proved to be worrisome. His 2002 secret agent movie “XXX” turned into a global smash, and his asking price soared. Universal was faced with a knotty decision. It had pledged to pay Diesel $12.5 million for “Riddick,” and the studio also wanted him for its sequel “2 Fast 2 Furious.” But if Diesel were to do the street racing sequel, he wanted to renegotiate his “Riddick” deal and charge Universal $45 million for both films, the studio says. Universal passed, and didn’t put the actor in its “2 Fast” sequel, although the studio is considering him for the third installment.

Around the same time, two long-delayed Diesel movies, “A Man Apart” and “Knockaround Guys,” flopped. Diesel’s off-screen swagger wasn’t really helping, either, and by the time Universal started selling “Riddick” the muscular actor wasn’t central to the campaign. Instead, the studio was hawking the film’s special effects, its scope, its spaceships, its new plot lines, even Dench. The studio was essentially avoiding the very thing that first made it interested in the project -- Diesel as Riddick. “We thought it was important that Vin not overshadow the movie,” Field says.

As the film’s release date neared, though, Universal grew concerned that “Riddick” wasn’t sparking enough audience interest. Just as it had done with “Pitch Black,” the studio revised its ads, and put Diesel back in the middle of the frame. Universal also started selling the film’s “Pitch Black” pedigree.

Universal said Sunday exit polling for “Riddick” showed audiences were happy to see the actor back in the role. And Twohy says that, like “Pitch Black,” the verdict should not be rendered after “Riddick’s” debut weekend, as the film’s ultimate worth will be measured by ancillary income such as DVD sales. Says the filmmaker: “We could know a year from now.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Box Office

Preliminary results based on studio projections (in millions).

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total

*--*

*--* Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban $35.1 $158.1

The Chronicles of Riddick $24.6 $24.6

Shrek 2 $24 $354

The Stepford Wives $22.2 $22.2

Garfield: The Movie $21.7 $21.7

The Day after Tomorrow $14.6 $153.2

Raising Helen $3.8 $31.4