Behold, the power of cheese! If, after the perceived failure of The Chronicles of Riddick, you said that there would be another Riddick movie – and a full ten years later to boot – most people would think you were crazy. Even crazier to say that the new film would be demonstrably awesome. The Riddick movies were always a bit of an acquired taste: the first a surprise hit that helped make Vin Diesel a star, the second a big-budget epic that marked his gradual descent. Now the third movie arrives with its intended audience firmly in mind, which is part of what makes it such earthy fun. Hit the jump for my full review.

Making it as an independent production that allowed them to have the creative freedom to return to its R-rated roots, Riddick – the much-anticipated new chapter of the captivating sci-fi saga that includes Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick – is a dark thriller that sees the anti-hero wanted by every mercenary and bounty hunter in the known galaxy, and both Riddick (Vin Diesel) and the mercs are forced to fight for survival.  The film also stars Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Molla, Dave Bautista, Raoul Trujillo, Bokeem Woodbine and Nolan Gerard Funk.

At the film’s press day, writer/director David Twohy spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about bringing the franchise back, knowing where they want the story to end up (ideally with two more films), how much the story changed over the years, the challenges of making a stand-alone movie while also incorporating the previous mythology, how the first cut was about two hours and 20 minutes, that he’s doing a director’s cut with an additional 10 minutes for the DVD/Blu-ray release, how the idea for the mud demons was something that was developed nine years ago, for one of the earlier films, and what it was like to create such a vast world on a soundstage.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Universal has released new featurette for the sci-fi/action film, Riddick.  It opens with a slight contradiction between Vin Diesel and director David Twohy.  Diesel says “We always wanted it to be three films,” but then Twohy follows with “It was a question of where do we go next?”  The implication of a trilogy signals that they knew how it would be resolved, but clearly that wasn’t the case.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Just because a film is planned that doesn’t mean the final result will be good and vice versa.  This featurette contains new footage, and does a good job of laying out the story without giving too much away, although there is no alien-puppy-saving.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  The film also stars Katee Sackhoff, David Bautista, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Gerard Funk, and Karl Urban.  Riddick opens September 6th.

Universal Pictures has released yet another trailer for director David Twohy’s upcoming sci-fi sequel Riddick.  The film finds Vin Diesel’s titular character being hunted by mercenaries, and once again, they’re hopelessly outmatched by the anti-hero who can see in the dark.  But the mercs and their bounty are forced to team up when lethal alien monsters attack.  Everything we’ve seen from the film thus far hints at a movie closer to Pitch Black than The Chronicles of Riddick, and this trailer is no different—though it covers much of the same ground as the restricted trailer that was released during Comic-Con.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and if you missed it, click here to check out the motion comic prequel to Riddick.  The film also stars Katee Sackhoff, David Bautista, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Gerard Funk, and Karl Urban. Riddick opens September 6th.

I like Riddick. He’s a gritty character but it doesn’t feel like he’s trying to sell gritty because he’s simply an unapologetic murderer with the superpower to see in the dark. A badass doesn’t have to tell you he’s a badass. It was a charming character in a cult film, and it didn’t translate to something epic in the studio-financed PG-13 sequel. But that flop only made me feel more protective of the character and hopeful that he would return in a better and more fitting story. Riddick looks like a response and a realization: a response to the flaws of The Chronicles of Riddick and a realization to play to the strengths of Pitch Black. While we didn’t see a lot of new stuff during the Comic-Con’s panel, writer/director David Twohy, and stars Vin Diesel and Katee Sackhoff provided a clear vision for the third installment and laying out why their characters are appealing. Unrelated to Riddick, Diesel got a Marvel question during the audience Q&A and gave a reluctant but interesting response.

Hit the jump to read the panel and check out a new restricted trailer. Riddick opens September 6th.

In anticipation of checking out Monsters University later today, my wife and I and two of our nephews rewatched Monsters, Inc. last night. It had been probably 10 years or so since I last watched Inc. and all I can say is shame on me for forgetting how good it is. Within the first 15 minutes of the film, during which I had already laughed no fewer than five times, I was reminded why Pixar (if you haven’t already, be sure to check out Brendan’s Pixar by the Numbers editorial) is held to such a high standard: because they set that standard for themselves first and, in doing so, conditioned us to expect nothing less than spectacular. Do I prefer it when the studio introduces new characters, stories, and worlds over sequels and spin-offs? Sure. Still yet, they could never release another movie I care about (which won’t happen) and would still have done enough for the medium to deserve my eternal appreciation and respect.

Now that I’m finished vouching for a studio that requires zero support from me in order to stay relevant, I can get to the reason we’re all here. In this week’s Top 5 you can find a possible casting breakdown for Star Wars: Episode VII, our Pacific Rim set visit, the excellent first trailer for Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio‘s The Wolf of Wall Street, our Riddick set visit recap, and what may very well be the final appearance that Man of Steel ever makes in this weekly feature (no promises, though). Read on for a brief recap and link to each of the above.

As you can probably see from the abundance of Riddick coverage today, Universal has lifted my set visit embargo and I can finally talk about what I saw and learned on the Montreal set last year.  In addition to being able to share my thoughts, Universal has provided us with fifteen new high resolution images featuring Vin Diesel, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista, Jordi Molla, Bokeem Woodbine, and many more from the cast.  Hit the jump to check out the images as well as links to all my set visit coverage.

During a group interview on the set of Riddick, writer-director David Twohy explained that even though this is the third film in the franchise, you don’t need to have seen Pitch Black or The Chronicles of Riddick:

“Certainly it does play in a gratifying way as a standalone movie, but there are threads that we continue to sew into the fabric of this movie as well, that we started sewing in previous movies and will continue to sew in future movies.  It is kind of a standalone movie, but if you came to it fresh you would probably be perplexed by a couple of the beats.  But I’d rather have them interested, either perplexed and interested rather than over-explaining everything, we’re not into over-explaining our things.”

He also talked about the economic realities of Riddick and what they hope to do in future sequels, the visual effects, how this installment is “about one man surviving a planet and his only way to get off that planet is to call in the mercenaries to get a ride off that planet,” how they have a tight shooting schedule compared to the other films, the cast, and so much more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Universal Pictures has released a new trailer, images, and a debut poster for writer/director David Twohy’s Riddick.  The Chronicles of Riddick follow-up finds the titular character, played by Vin Diesel, left for dead on a deserted planet filled with predators both alien and human, as bounty hunters once again are out for Riddick’s head.  Clocking in at two and a half minutes long, this trailer shows off much more footage than the first teaser, but there’s not much revealed by way of plot.  In fact, it really looks as though one could comfortably watch Riddick without having seen the first two films in the series and be completely onboard.  With Karl Urban returning, though, one imagines there’s at least a small throughline that connects Riddick with Chronicles.  Though some of the effects are a bit spotty, if you’re a fan of the character and/or the first two films, this trailer promises that Riddick is likely right up your alley.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, poster, and images.  The film also stars Katee Sackhoff, David Bautista, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, and Nolan Gerard Funk.  Riddick opens in traditional theaters and IMAX on September 6th.

The first trailer for Riddick is now online.  It’s been a long wait for such a short teaser, but it’s got everything you crave in a Riddick movie: Vin Diesel, fearsome creatures, eyeshine in the dark and stone-cold one-liners from the titular anti-hero.  There’s not much in the way of plot (or co-stars) revealed here, but the tone is spot on.

Also starring Karl Urban, Katee Sackhoff and Dave Bautista, writer/director David Twohy’s Riddick opens September 6th.  Hit the jump to watch the first trailer.

We’ve got two new images for you today from the following films:

• 2 Guns – The first image from director Baltasar Kormákur’s actioner features stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as two undercover operatives from different branches who work together without knowing each other’s secret identities.  2 Guns opens August 16th.
• Riddick - A new image from David Twohy’s third installment in the trilogy starring Vin Diesel as the fan-favorite anti-hero.  Riddick debuts September 6th.

Hit the jump to see both new images.

We’ve got some media from two long-in-development pictures today, as follows:

• Riddick – The third film in the Riddick franchise starring Vin Diesel from writer/director David Twohy.  This new image shows off the brooding anti-hero who someone left out in the rain.  The long-awaited film, also starring Karl Urban (Dredd 3D) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica), will finally land in theaters September 6th.
• Mad Max: Fury Road – The fourth film in writer/director George Miller’s post-apocalyptic action franchise.  The latest iteration features Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) as Max Rockatansky along with Charlize Theron (Prometheus) and Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class).  New video shows behind-the-scenes footage of the film’s crazy vehicles in action.

Hit the jump to check them out.

We’ve got a couple of release date announcements to attend to this evening.  First up, Universal Pictures has set a September 6, 2013 release date for the upcoming sequel Riddick.  Directed by David Twohy, the Chronicles of Riddick follow-up finds the titular character, played by Vin Diesel, left for dead on a deserted planet filled with predators.  In addition to the release date announcement, Universal has revealed that the sci-fi film will also be released in the IMAX format when it hits theaters.  Currently no other films are slated for that September date.

Additionally, the 2013 White House actioner not directed by Roland Emmerich—Antoine Fuqua’s Olympus Has Fallen—is undergoing a slight release date shift.  FilmDistrict has moved its release up to March 22, 2013 from its previous April 5th date.  Gerard Butler stars as a disgraced Secret Service agent called back to duty when terrorists attack the White House.  The film now squares off against DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods.  Emmerich’s similarly-plotted film, White House Down, stars Channing Tatum and opens in June.

Last month, we confirmed that David Twohy‘s Riddick would be getting an R-rating.  Today, Twohy has announced that he’s hard at work on post-production, and he’s released a look at the official logo as well as the first image of Karl Urban as Vaako.  Regarding the logo, this may not be the logo for the final film.  Productions usually cook up their own logo for the movie their working on, and then the studio will usually tweak it or redesign it completely so that it fits in better with the advertising materials.  As for Vaako, it looks like he won’t be able to escape the blue filter that haunted him in Chronicles of Riddick.

Hit the jump to check out the logo and image.  Riddick also stars Vin Diesel, Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Conrad Pla, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Funk, Keri Hilson, and Bokeem Woodbine.

Though principal photography on the film has wrapped, Vin Diesel isn’t done sharing images from the sequel Riddick.  The actor is currently prepping to shoot Fast and Furious 6 this summer, but he took some time to post this new image to his Facebook page.  Last week Diesel revealed that the earliest possible release date for Riddick would be January 2013, but he added that the studio is very pleased with what it’s seeing and is already asking about further sequels.  Riddick serves as the follow-up to The Chronicles of Riddick and finds our anti-hero luring bounty-hungry mercenaries in order to escape from a planet filled with alien predators.

Hit the jump to check out the image.  Directed by David Twohy, the film also stars Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Conrad Pla, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Funk, Keri Hilson, and Bokeem Woodbine.