Mark Sinclair, better known as Vin Diesel has been active since the 1990s, where he made his first uncredited appearance in Penny Marshall's Awakenings as a hospital orderly. Following that tiny role, Diesel completely changed gear and wrote, produced, directed and starred in a film-short called Multi-Facial (1994) a somewhat semi-autobiography of his own experience, as a mixed race actor navigating the perilous audition process. The film definitely struck a note and garnered enough attention to become an official selectee for a screening at the Cannes Film Festival. A 3 year gap ensued before another indie project was released in the shape of Strays (1997) and once again Diesel would take on scribing and directing duties. From here on in, there is a notable rise in the calibre of productions Vin Diesel becomes involved with; his first big movie role is that of Private Carparzo, a soldier in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, then Diesel enters another field of acting that would become a regular part of his repertoire, voicing the alien robot in The Iron Giant (1999) animation. Never afraid to take on a variety of roles, Diesel went on to wow audiences with his portrayal of Chris Varick, a trader in Boiler Room (2000) this being his last film before the advent of his first franchise...
Pitch Black / The Chronicles Of Riddick / Riddick / Furia / (Animation & Computer Games)
Probably the most iconic character out of his 4 franchises, Vin Diesel starred as the Furyan born Richard B. Riddick, a highly intelligent former soldier, survivalist, criminal and mercenary who combines his attuned sense of stealth, formidable warrior skills with an animalistic primal edge. The first in the series of films; Pitch Black (2000) was made for only $23,000,000, yet even with a lukewarm response from critics, went on to gross $53,000,000 dollars and start a cult following. In 2004, a video game - The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay and an animated short - The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury were released, returning Vin Diesel to voicing a character and Diesel once again put on his producing hat and brought us the first live action sequel to Pitch Black - The Chronicles Of Riddick. This time around, the production had a much bigger budget ($105 - $120million) and tried to bring an epic feel to the proceedings, but unfortunately the film was not as well received as Pitch Black, falling short in recouping its money back. The Chronicles Of Riddick made $115,800,000 at the box office.
In 2009 Diesel voiced a second video game: The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena. In 2013 Vin voices the motion comic: Riddick: Blindsided, which serves as both a sequel to The Chronicles Of Riddick and a prequel to the next instalment in the movie franchise - Riddick (2013). Riddick unashamedly goes back to its Pitch Black roots in terms of story, budget ($38,000,000) and style. Produced by Vin Diesel, billionaire Ted Field and Vin Diesel's sister Samantha Vincent, the film successfully grossed $98.300,000. A fourth Riddick film; Furia has just been announced.
The Fast & The Furious
Straight after Pitch Black, Vin went on to play Dominic Toretto in his next franchise that would become his biggest. Playing an ex-con, auto-mechanic and street racer, this is the role that catapulted Vin Diesel into A-List rankings. Made for $38,000,000, the film went on to gross $207,300,000, which is clearly a colossal profit. Now, what might be viewed as odd, is that Diesel didn't appear in the sequel: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and only made a cameo in the 3rd film Tokyo Drift (2006) which is technically the precursor to the 7th film Furious 7 (2015). It takes a whole 8 years for Diesel to be fully brought back into the franchise and reunited with Paul Walker the 4th instalment Fast & Furious (2009) went on to gross $363,200,000 from its $85,000,000 budget. Continuing to stay involved, Diesel also steps into the producer chair, as well as in front of the camera and is one of three producers for Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7 and one of four producers for The Fate Of The Furious the 8th entry. Two more sequels 9+10 are currently in pre-production, but there are no credits to suggest that Vin Diesel is producing these two, only reprising his role as Dominic Toretto.
Fast Five Budget: $125,000,000 - Gross $626,100,000
Fast & Furious 6 Budget: $160,000,000 - Gross $788,700,000
Furious 7 Budget: $190,000,000 - Gross $1.516,000,000
The Fate Of The Furious Budget: $250,000,000 - Gross $1,239,000,000
Fast Five Budget: $125,000,000 - Gross $626,100,000
Fast & Furious 6 Budget: $160,000,000 - Gross $788,700,000
Furious 7 Budget: $190,000,000 - Gross $1.516,000,000
The Fate Of The Furious Budget: $250,000,000 - Gross $1,239,000,000
xXx
With only one film - Knockaround Guys (2001) separating them, Vin Diesel went into his next/third franchise as an executive producer and actor where he would play the extreme sports, semi-reprobate Xander Cage. Wanted by the F.B.I. for his unbridled protests, he is eventually captured and offered a deal to help the government or face jail time. This gives us the perfect excuse for action scenes galore, that are half 007 and half Point Break. There are currently 3 instalments: xXx (2002), xXx: State Of Union (2005) and xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2017) with a fourth in pre-production and just like The Fast & The Furious franchise, Vin Diesel did not immediately return for the following sequel which starred Ice Cube instead. In returning for the third, he served as a producer and will be maintaining the same dual role for the upcoming fourth instalment. xXx had a budget of $88,300,000 and made $277,400,000. The Return Of Xander Cage was made for $85,000,000 and grossed $346,100,000.
Guardians Of The Galaxy / Avengers
It may be just a voiceover with only 3 words, but "I am Groot" has been conveyed well enough to have an infinite amount of expression and scene stealing prowess. Involved with one of the biggest revolutions in comic book, action film history, voicing Groot for Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers brings us to Vin Diesel's final franchise...for now.
LEGACY: With no signs of slowing down, Vin Diesel still has past and future projects that could develop into franchise properties. Though it is unlikely right now, due to the sheer amount of projects Diesel has lined up, there was plenty of talk about making a sequel to The Last Witch Hunter (2015) and Bloodshot his newest iconic comic figure has finished principal photography and is currently in post-production. His first three franchises are all currently spawning sequels and beyond them, for this here action hero, there is so much more that could be on the table.
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