FAQ

As of 2020 there are 3 feature films - Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick. There is also an short animated film - Dark Fury. There are at least 3 video games based on this series franchise.

Caught in a meteor storm, the space transport vessel Hunter Gratzer is forced to crash land on a barren planet with three suns, killing all aboard except for 11 people—docking pilot Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), antique dealer Paris Ogilvie (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), runaway teenage boy Jack (Rhiana Griffith), settlers John "Zeke" Ezekiel (John Moore) and Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery (Claudia Black), Imam Abu al-Walid (Keith David) leading three followers, Suleiman (Les Chantery), Ali (Firass Dirani), and Hassan (Sam Sari) on a hajj—along with bounty hunter William Johns (Cole Hauser) and his quarry, convicted murderer Richard Riddick (Vin Diesel), who has managed to escape following the crash. Worried about keeping themselves safe from Riddick, the survivors soon realize that Riddick may provide their best hope of survival when they discover they have become the prey of large, vampire-like raptors that live in dark underground tunnels but come to the surface to hunt during a total eclipse that occurs every 22 years and is about to begin now.

Pitch Black is based on a screenplay co-written by American screenwriters Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, and David Twohy (who also directed the movie). It was followed by The Chronicles of Riddick and Riddick (2013).

It was never established in the movie. Carolyn used the orrery to determine when the eclipse would occur but did not take it any further to learn how long it was going to last. At one point, Imam predicts from the model that the suns and the ringed planet are moving in conjunction with other and that there will be "a lasting darkness" but other sources suggest time periods of one day, one month, and one year. When it's suggested that they simply wait for the eclipse to end, Carolyn points out that the geologists probably tried that, too, but it didn't work for them, so a dark period of at least several days or more seems likely.

It's implied that the planet has an underground habitat of caves and tunnels with its own complex ecosystem in it. What they eat however, isn't directly established, but at one point the raptors start attacking each other. So it's likely there are different types of light-sensitive creatures that hunt each other. It's also possible the creatures hibernate for the 22 years in between eclipses. If the creatures have killed all life on the planet, it's likely they've turned to cannibalism.

The film was merely cut in some dialogue scenes, probably to give it more speed. On DVD, director David Twohy could finally publish his preferred edition. This version was promoted as "unrated" long before this became usual. For this reason, "Pitch Black" would be the first commerce-cut that was promoted by this catchword in order to sell more copies.