Across Two Mediums “Riddick” – Movie to Videogame

By Saurabh “Nemesis!!!”  Rajeeva |Thursday, November 21, 2009

If you’re reading this article and claim to be familiar with Hollywood (beyond Sharon Stone in Basic Instincts ofcourse!), then am sure you’ve enjoyed cult action thrillers like Terminator, Rambo and Rocky and hence can be safely assumed to be literate about popular action stars. Amongst all the action flicks being churned out about a decade back, there came a mid – budget movie in 2000 called Pitch Black. It was about a bunch of survivors of a spaceship crash trying to escape flying predatory creatures on a planet plunged into a long darkness caused by an eclipse. Their ray of hope was a guy who despite heroic qualities possessed a selfish and uncaring attitude that put him dangerously close to being a villain himself, who thought and planned beyond what anyone could and who possessed surgically enhanced eyes that allowed him to see in the dark! Right guessed Fred! The guy we’re talking about is none other than the cult favourite Riddick, portrayed to perfection by Vin Diesel – a highly popular Hollywood action hero (wow, wish that was MY professional designation! ). Pitch Black was a sleeper hit of 2000 raking in USD 53 million worldwide compared to its low USD 23 million budget and besides introducing Riddick to the world, also proved to be an acting breakthrough for Vin Diesel.

Riddick isn’t your usual movie hero out to save the day by destroying enemy tanks and helicopters, nor is he portrayed to be like one! He is more of an anti-hero, who doesn’t give a damn about the world as long as he is not being disturbed by it (in which case he’ll kick some real ass!). Of course, he’s got a physique to take apart a mini-truck with his bare hands, but his strength is matched equally by his calculative and opportunistic mind that keeps everyone guessing about whether to trust him or not. He can be moved by emotions and he can be outright cold when angered. When introduced to cine-goers worldwide, Riddick thrilled audiences by being so very different from conventional heroic characters, with impressive screen presence, shiny piercing eyes and dominating heavy voice that embossed ‘dare not mess with me’ in every frame!

As per the Natural Law of Entertainment (coined by me of course! ), “if you like something on screen once, you get two of it next time”, (T2, Aliens, Jaws 2, Rambo 2, Dhoom 2 and what not!!!), it was inevitable for Riddick to return on-screen again in 2004 in ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’. However, the motion picture was not alone, but was accompanied by its cousin on Xbox and PC in the form of “The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay”.  While the motion picture garnered poor reviews and was a domestic box office disappointment, the video game more than made up for it by receiving universal critical acclaim! Riddick had been successfully ported from a movie to a videogame and liked by all – thereby establishing itself as a shining example that broke the myth of video game adaptations being cheap cash-ins for successful movies.

It wasn’t easy for game developer Starbreeze Studios to achieve this feat. If I were the director heading this project (ohhh I wish!!!), I’d probably explode my brains just wondering how to do justice to such a powerful character and series brand while ensuring a successful video game development. Thanks to their luck, I wasn’t there and so they decided to deploy a fresh script for the game as a first step, rather than basing it on one of the movies! ‘Escape from Butcher Bay’ was a FPS / Stealth video game with RPG elements following Riddick’s attempts to escape from Butcher Bay – a maximum security prison from whom no one has escaped before! The script was developed with close involvement of Vin Diesel and director David Twohy (Director – Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick, A Perfect Getaway and writer – The Fugitive, Waterworld, Terminal Velocity etc.) and placed much before the events of ‘Pitch Black’ took place. The game-play featured beautifully executed hand-to-hand combats (doing justice to all those ripping muscles on Riddick!!), stealth based takedowns and loads of informative interactions and side quests that rewarded the player with bonuses. Hell it even showed how Riddick got ‘those shiny eyes’!

With 1,10,000 copies sold in first week alone, Escape from Butcher Bay was far away from being a sleeper hit unlike its parent movie Pitch Black. It was an outright blockbuster! Hailed for its graphics and game-play, it reinforced Riddick as the anti-hero of choice amongst video gamers also. Critically, it won editor’s awards from IGN, Gamespot and Gamespy as well as MTV’s ‘Best Game based on a Movie’ award.

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