Pitch Black (also known as The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black) is a 2000 science fiction action movie directed by David Twohy and is recognized as the acting breakthrough of Vin Diesel.
In the film, dangerous criminal Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) is being transported to prison in a cargo spacecraft. When the spaceship is damaged by comet debris and makes an emergency crash landing on an empty desert planet, Riddick escapes. However, when predatory flying alien creatures begin attacking the survivors, Riddick joins forces with the crew to develop a plan to escape the planet.
The film's total budget was estimated to be USD $23 million. It was a sleeper hit, grossing over $53 million worldwide. It has since developed its own cult following, particularly around the anti-hero Riddick. A sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, was released in 2004.
Plot summary
In the 26th century, the transport ship Hunter/Gratzner, its crew and passangers in cryostatus chambers, passes through a comet's tail while on autopilot; the debris from comet ruptures the hull and kills some of its crew. The remaining crew is awakened, and docking pilot Carolyn Fry, despite nearly dumping the passenger compartment, is able to minimize the damage of a crash landing on a nearby planet, Hades; though many survivor, the ship is a total loss. The survivors find the planet to be nearly desert-like, it's orbit around three suns keeping the surface in perpetual daylight. The survivors learn that one of the passengers is the dangerous criminal Richard B. Riddick has escaped, and is chased by the bounty hunter, William J. Johns before gets away. Meanwhile, one of the other survivors is killed while investigating a nearby cave; when Johns returns with Riddick, he is accused of the survivor's murder, and kept under close guard.
A group of the survivors travel to a nearby abandoned geological research settlement to find a supply of water and a small escape ship they can use to escape the planet, though lacking power cells needed to start it up. They come to learn that the planet has a native species of deadly bat-like creatures that preyed on the former residents of the settlement, but only hunt in complete darkness, staying in the planet's cave systems otherwise. The survivors, discovering a astronomical model of Hades' orbit, realize that the suns will soon become eclipsed from Hades from another planet in the system, plunging the surface into darkness for an unspecified length of time. They quickly race back to the crashed ship to collect the power cells, other supplies, and the other survivors before this occurs.
As they begin the journey back from the crash to the settlement, the eclipse starts, and the creatures begin to emerge from the underground caves and attack the remaining survivors. Riddick reveals that he has had illegal surgery performed on his eyes to give him perfect night vision, and the group finds it necessary to trust him to lead them to safety. When Jack, a young runaway, reveals she is female, forced to hide her gender in order to gain respect, and on her menstrual cycle, Riddick realizes her blood is attracting the creatures. When Johns suggests leaving Jack behind to lure the creatures away, Riddick instead wounds Johns and leaves him as the bait. Soon, the group is whittled down to Riddick, Fry, Jack, and the Muslim Imam; Riddick has the other three wait in a nearby cave with bioluminescent worms that will keep the creatures at bay while he proceeds ahead with the heavy power cells. Concerned, Fry follows Riddick and finds him ready to take the escape craft by himself, but manages to convince him to help rescue Jack and Imam.
Returning to the cave, Riddick and the others proceed back to the ship; Riddick is taken by the creatures, but is saved by Fry's sacrifice. As they prepare to take off, Riddick waits for the last possible minute to kill as many of the creatures as possible in the ship's engine blast. As they are leaving the planet, Jack asks what they should say if they run into bounty hunters or other law enforcers asking where to find Riddick. Riddick responds by saying, "Tell 'em Riddick's dead. He died somewhere on that planet."
Cast
Reception
Pitch Black opened in 1,832 theaters on February 18, 2000, and grossed $11,577,688 over its opening weekend, ranking #3 at the box office. The film has a domestic gross of $39,240,659 and a foreign gross of $13,947,000, giving it a worldwide total of $53,187,659.
On its release, it was met with mainly mixed reviews, and received a 58% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 97 reviews with an average rating of 5.7/10 (with a 36% approval rating from top critics and 82% from the RT community).
Related works
The movie's sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, was released in 2004 and was also directed by David Twohy. A short animated movie, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, directed by Peter Chung, was also released that year. Dark Fury bridges the gap between Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick. In 2000 a prequel to Pitch Black was released named Into Pitch Black, which was supposed to be a Documentary movie. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a game for the Xbox and the PC, was also released in 2004 to critical acclaim. A remake of Butcher Bay, including a new campaign, was released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on April 7, 2009, under the title The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. As of 2009, two live-action sequels to The Chronicles of Riddick are currently in development with both David Twohy and Vin Diesel attached.
See also
References
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