Pitch Black (titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black on later re-releases) is a 2000 American science fiction horror film directed by David Twohy and co-written by Twohy and brothers Ken and Jim Wheat from a story conceived by the Wheats. The film stars Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Claudia Black and Keith David. Dangerous criminal Riddick (Diesel) is being transported to prison in a spacecraft, and escapes when the spaceship is damaged by comet debris and crash lands on an empty desert planet. When predatory creatures begin attacking the survivors, Riddick joins forces with them to escape the planet.

Plot

In the distant future, the spaceship Hunter-Gratzner is struck by micrometeoroids that tear through the hull, killing the captain and sending it off course toward a nearby planet. First Officer Owens and docking pilot Carolyn Fry attempt an emergency landing. As the ship breaks apart, a panicked Fry prepares to jettison the passengers held in cryostasis to save herself, but Owens intervenes. The ship crash-lands, killing Owens and most of the passengers. The survivors include Fry; Abu "Imam" al-Walid, a Muslim preacher escorting three young pilgrims to New Mecca; a teenage boy named Jack; prospectors Shazza and Zeke; wealthy merchant Paris; law enforcement officer William J. Johns; and his prisoner, the dangerous and enigmatic criminal Richard B. Riddick, who escapes in the confusion.