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Pitch Black (film)

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Pitch Black
Theatrical poster
Directed byDavid Twohy
Written byStory:
Jim Wheat
Ken Wheat
Screenplay:
Jim Wheat
Ken Wheat
David Twohy
Produced byTom Engelman
StarringVin Diesel
Radha Mitchell
Claudia Lee Black
Cole Hauser
Keith David
Lewis Fitz-Gerald
CinematographyDavid Eggby
Edited byRick Shaine
Music byGraeme Revell
Production
companies
Distributed byUSA theatrical:
USA Films
All other rights:
Universal Pictures
Release date
February 18, 2000 (2000-02-18)
Running time
Original release:
109 minutes
Director's Cut:
112 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Arabic
Budget$23 million
Box office$53,187,659

Pitch Black (also known as The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black) is a 2000 science fiction horror film 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 US$23 million. It was a sleeper hit, grossing over US$53 million worldwide. It has since developed its own cult following, particularly around the antihero Riddick. A sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, was released in 2004.

Plot summary

In the 27th century (2676 A.D.), the transport ship Hunter-Gratzner, its crew and passengers in cryo-stasis chambers, passes through a comet's tail while on autopilot; debris from the comet ruptures the hull and kills some of its crew, including the captain. The remaining crew is awakened and docking pilot Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell) crash lands on the nearby moon, Hades, despite nearly dumping the passenger compartment; although many survive, the ship is a total loss. The survivors find the planet to be a dry, dead desert, its orbit around three suns keeping the surface in perpetual daylight. The survivors learn that one of the passengers is a dangerous criminal, Richard B. Riddick, who escaped in the crash. Riddick is chased by a bounty hunter, William J. Johns (Cole Hauser), before he gets away. Meanwhile, one of the other survivors is killed while investigating a nearby cave. Johns returns with Riddick, who 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 spaceship they can use to escape the planet, though lacking power cells needed to start it up. Along the way, they encounter a mass grave of a large indigenous anthropodic life form, and compare the site to an elephant graveyard on Earth. They wonder at their demise, and no living members of this species is ever encountered in the storyline.

The wandering band comes to learn that Hades has native species of ravenous creatures called "Bioraptors" or "Demons" that slaughtered the geological station's scientists. They survive only in darkness; and can emerge only once every twenty two years for a one-month eclipse. Two varieties are seen: one smaller, comparable to flocks of swift falcons, the other larger and more like golden eagles or other large terran birds of prey. The human crash survivors, discovering an astronomical model of Hades' orbit, realize that the suns will soon become eclipsed from Hades by the planet it orbits around; plunging the surface into darkness for a month. 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 bioraptors begin to emerge from the underground caves and attack the survivors. Riddick explains that he had illegal surgery performed on his eyes in prison to give him perfect night vision and the group finds it necessary to trust him to lead them to safety. After Riddick realizes that Jack (Rhiana Griffith), a young runaway disguised as a boy, is female and on her menstrual cycle, Riddick tells the others that her blood is attracting the bioraptors. 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 (Keith David); Riddick has the other three wait in a nearby cave as he takes the power cells the rest of the way, but the bioraptors begin to close in on them. The group then happens to discover bioluminescent worms in the cave that will keep the demons at bay. Concerned, Fry follows Riddick using the light from the worms, and finds him ready to take the escape craft by himself but convinces him to help rescue Jack and Imam by telling him she would be willing to sacrifice her life for them.

Returning to the cave, Riddick and the others proceed to the ship; Riddick is almost killed, but at the last minute, Fry manages to save him - at the expense of her own life. As they prepare to take off, Riddick waits for the last possible minute to kill as many of the bioraptors 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, mercenaries or other law enforcers asking where to find Riddick. Riddick responds:

"Tell em Riddick's dead. He died somewhere on that planet."

Cast

Reception

Pitch Black opened in 1,832 theaters on 18 February 2000, grossing US$11,577,688 over its opening weekend and ranking #4 at the box office. The film has a domestic gross of US$39,240,659 and a foreign gross of US$13,947,000, giving it a worldwide total of US$53,187,659.

On its release, the film was met with mainly mixed reviews, and it received a 55% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 101 reviews with an average rating of 5.6/10 (with a 36% approval rating from top critics).

Main article: The Chronicles of Riddick (series)

The movie's sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), was also directed by David Twohy. A short animated movie released the same year, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004), was directed by Peter Chung. Dark Fury bridges the gap between Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick.

To tie-in with the sequel, the film was novelized under the name The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black. The novel was written by Frank Lauria.

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 7 April 2009, under the title The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.

As of 2009, two live-action sequels to The Chronicles of Riddick were in development with both David Twohy and Vin Diesel attached.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Pitch Black.
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