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.

Since the film was announced, Vin Diesel has promised that Riddick would return to the series’ roots and get an R-rating.  Today, the MPAA has confirmed that the anti-hero’s new film will indeed be rated-R.  It’s not too difficult to land an R-rating, but fans should be pleased that they’ll probably be getting something along the lines Pitch Black and Escape from Butcher Bay rather than The Chronicles of Riddick.

Hit the jump for the movie’s synopsis.  The film also stars Karl Urban, Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Conrad Pla, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Funk, Keri Hilson, and Bokeem Woodbine.

The A&E drama series Longmire, based on the Walt Longmire mystery novels by best-selling author Craig Johnson, is a contemporary crime thriller set in Big Sky country. Walt Longmire (Australian actor Robert Taylor) is the charismatic, dedicated and unflappable sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, who buries the pain of losing his wife behind a brave face and dry wit. With the help of Victoria “Vic” Moretti (Katee Sackhoff), a female deputy new to the department, Longmire becomes reinvigorated about his job and committed to running for re-election, as he rebuilds his personal and professional life.

During this exclusive interview with Collider, actress Katee Sackhoff talked about how this show came about and how it came down to either Longmire or the ABC fantasy series Once Upon A Time (she was up for Jennifer Morrison’s role), how she identifies with her character, and what she enjoys about working with this cast. She also talked about what appealed to her about doing the next Riddick film with Vin Diesel, her crazy audition process for the role, her feelings about the Battlestar Galactica finale, and her dream of playing a country singer who falls in love with a rodeo cowboy (for the film Paper Wings). Check out what she had to say after the jump:

It’s been a long way to get Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) to his third movie, but filming has now wrapped on the series’ third installment, Riddick.  Director David Twohy made the announcement on his official website, where he also posted a photo of him posing with the actors who play the movie’s mercenaries.  The plot of the third film has Riddick luring the bounty-hungry mercs in order to escape from a planet filled with alien predators.  I like looking at this image and imagining that Twohy is playing a rookie mercenary who joined up after taking his kid to soccer practice.

Hit the jump to check out the set photo.  The film also stars Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Conrad Pla, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Funk, Keri Hilson, and Bokeem Woodbine.

New images from The Hunger Games and Byzantium have gone online along with a new set photo from Riddick.  The image from The Hunger Games gives us another look at Donald Sutherland as the villainous President Snow.  Reading the books, I thought Sutherland was a fine choice because A) he can convey the heartlessness of the character; and B) the role will probably keep to the unofficial rule that after the year 2000, Donald Sutherland can’t be in a movie for longer than 15 minutes.

Hit the jump to check out the image along with more on Byzantium and Riddick.  The Hunger Games is due out on March 23rd; no release date has been announce for Byzantium and Riddick.

In case you were somehow confused by the recent set photos Vin Diesel has been sending out, Universal Pictures has announced that principal photography has officially begun on Riddick.  The press release provides an updated synopsis and casting info.  We knew that Diesel would be joined by Karl Urban, Katee Sackhoff, and Jordi Molla, but now Bokeem Woodbine and David Bautista have been confirmed as cast members.  The film also stars Matt Nable, Conrad Pla, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Funk, and Keri Hilson.

Hit the jump for the press release.

Vin Diesel has been all too happy to share tidbits of information and concept art from the upcoming Riddick, but production on the sequel was halted when the production company ran out of money, and couldn’t pay the owner of the Montreal studio where filming was underway.  However, TMZ [via CinemaBlend] is reporting  that the movie has secured new financing, paid off its debt, and that filming is set to resume on December 28th. As we previously reported, Riddick is trying to keep costs more along the lines of Pitch Black in order to maintain an R-rating and (hopefully) have an easier time of turning a profit.  2004′s The Chronicles of Riddick flopping at the box office sent the franchise into stasis (although they were able to squeeze out the video game Assault on Dark Athena in 2009). Hopefully, the production won’t have to worry about being shut down again.

David Twohy‘s Riddick also stars Karl Urban and possibly Andreas Apergis, Katee Sackhoff, Bokeem Woodbine, and Dave Bautista.  Hit the jump for the official synopsis.  If filming does pick up before year’s end and Riddick can find distribution, it might hit theaters in 2012.

With pre-production well underway, David Twohy’s Riddick is now starting to put together its supporting cast.  We previously reported that Karl Urban would be returning to the franchise to star alongside Vin Diesel, and now Bloody-Disgusting has some new casting details to report.  According to BD, offers are out to voice Andreas Apergis (Durham County) Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) Bokeem Woodbine (The Rock) and WWE wrestler Dave Bautista (The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption).  If Apergis signs on, he’ll play play “Krone”, commander of the dark theocracy, while Sackhoff would pay “Dahl”, a Nordic merc tracking Riddick.  I’m definitely up on the idea of Sackhoff playing a merc, and hopefully Woodbine will top his shocked-death face from The Rock.

Check out the official synopsis for Riddick after the jump.

The long-in-development Riddick is finally closing in on its start date.  Producer and star Vin Diesel has been keeping fans updated by posting on his Facebook page and sharing pieces of concept art.  Yesterday, Diesel showed off some concept art for Necro-armor.  As you may recall from The Chronicles of Riddick (or not, which is fine because it’s not a good movie), the Necromongers are the bad guys and they’ll be factoring into the plot for the upcoming sequel.  The concept art is only one design for the Necro-armor and it doesn’t look like it will be used since Diesel commented, “Haha, I had to share.”  Diesel added the movie “starts principal photography in weeks” and re-confirmed the R-rating.

Hit the jump to check out the concept art.  Riddick also stars Karl Urban.

I was under the impression that the third Riddick film would try to put as much distance between it and The Chronicles of Riddick as possible.  Whenever Vin Diesel brings up the new sequel, he always mentions Pitch Black and not the PG-13 flop that had him and director David Twohy scrapping to get an R-rated third installment off the ground.  But Bloody-Disgusting reports that Karl Urban, who played the disgraced “Lord Vakko” in Chronicles, will be returning for the third movie.  While we’ve been calling the upcoming film “Riddick” and all the concept art is labeled “Riddick“, BD refers to the movie with its older title, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking, so maybe that’s being used again? (I hope not.  Unless you’re a Naked Gun movie, your title should not be a play on words).

There’s no word yet on how Vakko will factor into the plot but you can hit the jump for the official synopsis.  Urban will next be seen playing the title character in the new adaptation of Judge Dredd, Dredd.

Vin Diesel continues to play to his fans by releasing another piece of concept art from Riddick.  On his Facebook page, Diesel says that the fight to get the film an R-rating has indirectly led to an extensive pre-production phase.  I’m hoping that the film hits production soon because if Diesel keeps posting this concept art, he may inadvertently spoil his own movie.  You’ll understand what I mean if you click through to see the whole concept art and read the tiny description in the lower right-hand corner.

Hit the jump to check out the full image but beware a possible spoiler.

Pre-production on Riddick churns on and Vin Diesel has bestowed his Facebook fans with a new piece of concept art.  I hope folks don’t consider this to be a spoiler because if you didn’t think that Riddick could get blood splattered on his face, then you probably aren’t familiar with the Riddick films.  However, if it’s chocolate getting splattered on his face, then I have no idea what to expect from this sequel.

Diesel also told fans that shooting will begin in Canada, a country that also played host to shooting on The Chronicles of Riddick.  Let’s hope the third film in the franchise plays better (going for an R-rating is a push in the right direction).  Hit the jump to check out the concept art and a statement from Diesel on the film.

Vin Diesel, who does it all for the fans, has released some concept art from Riddick 3.  Recently, Diesel pretended to hem and haw over whether or not he should take a pay cut for a film he’s supposedly been passionate it about for years, but it looks like the project is moving forward with shooting likely to begin this September.  As a birthday present for Diesel, Riddick director David Twohy sent along some concept art for the film and Diesel has now shared the concept art on his Facebook page.  The way the image is drawn, it looks like Riddick destroyed a planet and half a mountain with a knife.  He apparently also has a new pet.

Hit the jump to check out the concept art.

Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick are among the many Vin Diesel movies I’ve never seen, but I respect the fondness for the character among fans.  Diesel has spoken in the past about a possible sequel, which may be coming sooner than expected.  Diesel has spoken with writer/director David Twohy about Riddick, and it could film as early as this summer with an R rating and everything.  One caveat:

“[Twohy] just landed in New York with the good news. We can start filming this summer. However, there is a catch… in order for us to make a true R rated film, I must work for scale upfront.”

Read everything Diesel had to say about Riddick after the jump.

It’s been awhile since we’ve received much information in regards to the much-anticipated third Chronicles of Riddick film, simply entitled Riddick.  Back in May, we brought you some concept art as well as a potential synopsis for the film.  However, since then, it’s been all quiet along the Riddick front.  With that in mind, for those of you who are starving for some info on the film, we have an update from Vin Diesel.  Via Facebook, Diesel posted this message:

“So the director of Riddick, my partner on COR since the beginning, DT… has a new challenge in store. He wants me to have 3 different body looks for this next chapter…

There is the DiNorscio type, the Dom type, and the lean Furyan type… but all in the same movie, haha…

When it comes to art, we all like a challenge.”

To partake in a little discussion as to the meaning of this message, hit the jump.  Diesel can next be seen in Fast Five which hits theaters on April 29th, 2011.