Pitch Black (2000)
69%RT Audience Score: 62%
Awards & Nominations: 2 wins & 9 nominations
Despite an interesting premise (and a starmaking turn from Vin Diesel), Pitch Black is too derivative and formulaic to fully recommend to sci-fi or action fans
Pitch Black is a sci-fi movie that’s out of this world! With Vin Diesel leading the way, this movie is a thrilling ride from start to finish. Sure, the script may be a bit cliché, but who cares when you’re watching monsters and mayhem on the big screen? The effects are top-notch, and the characters are vividly brought to life. It’s like Alien meets Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires, and it’s one of the best sci-fi films of the new millennium! So grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride.
Production Company(ies)
Bavaria Film Twin Bros., Productions, Radiant Film GmbH,
Distributor
USA Films
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Coober Pedy, South Australia, Australia
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for sci-fi violence and gore, and for language
Year of Release
2000
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Digital EX SDDS DTS Dolby Digital
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 48m
-
Language(s):English, Arabic
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 18, 2000 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 1, 2004
Genre(s)
Horror
Keyword(s)
starring Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, directed by David Twohy, written by Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy, horror, R rating, box office gross, Tom Engelman, Dolby Digital, SDDS, Surround, DTS, Scope (2.35:1), reviewed by Nathan Rabin, Peter Bradshaw, Derek Adams, Daniel Etherington, Liam Lacey, Anwar Brett, Mike Massie, Andrew Gaudion, Anton Bitel, Scott Chitwood, produced by Tom Engelman, sci-fi, action, survival horror, unexplored planet, nocturnal creatures, prison convict, eclipse, deadly, monsters, bounty hunters, anti-hero, effects, storytelling, mindless, popcorn entertainment, Vin Diesel fans, action extravaganza, craftily crafted, stylishly shot, outer-spacer, science-fiction cliches, Hollywood movies, visual imagination, intelligence, genre, English, Feb 18, 2000, Wide, Jun 1, 2004, USA Films
Worldwide gross: $53,187,659
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $92,249,515
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,056
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 10,059,925
US/Canada gross: $39,240,659
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $68,059,618
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 936
US/Canada opening weekend: $11,577,688
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $20,080,525
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 656
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $23,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $39,891,563
Production budget ranking: 964
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $21,481,607
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $30,876,345
ROI to date (est.): 50%
ROI ranking: 1,148
Vin Diesel – Riddick
Cole Hauser – Johns
Keith David – Imam
Lewis Fitz-Gerald – Paris
Claudia Black – Shazza
Director(s)
David Twohy
Writer(s)
Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy
Producer(s)
Tom Engelman
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
2 wins & 9 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (111) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (66) | Rotten (45)
Pitch Black falters a bit in its last half-hour-the film’s darkest moment reduces Diesel to delivering a pithy one-liner-but for the most part, it’s terrific.
October 17, 2018
Nathan Rabin
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
David Twohy’s film undoubtedly has something interesting about it, and that something can be summarised in two words: Vin Diesel.
October 17, 2018
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
A smart, suspenseful sci-fi movie from director Twohy, whose underrated 1996 film, The Arrival, also brought visual imagination and intelligence to the genre.
June 24, 2006
Derek Adams
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Features some lovingly crafted effects — notably director of photography David Eggby’s bleached colour palette — and some vivid characterisation.
December 3, 2002
Daniel Etherington
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
The script is a compendium of science-fiction clichs, familiar in Hollywood movies since the early fifties.
March 22, 2002 | Rating: 2/4
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
It is an entertainment and quite a good one too.
April 17, 2001 | Rating: 3/5
Anwar Brett
BBC.com
TOP CRITIC
It isn’t smart sci-fi; instead, it’s boilerplate survival horror, preoccupied with death, destruction, and monsters.
November 9, 2020 | Rating: 6/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
As knockoffs of its kind go, it’s one of the more distinct.
September 6, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Andrew Gaudion
VultureHound
what starts as a space-operatic adventure in an exotic world soon becomes monster horror pitched somewhere between Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires and James Cameron’s Aliens (Twohy had scripted several early drafts of Alien 3).
August 11, 2020
Anton Bitel
Through the Trees
THIS IS THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION FILM OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM!!!!!!!
October 17, 2018
Scott Chitwood
IGN Movies
But, much like cult pulper Assault On Precinct 13, this supersedes its derivative B-movie roots to emerge as a craftily crafted and stylishly shot outer-spacer.
October 17, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
Total Film Staff
Total Film
One of the best films of the year.
November 28, 2017
Antonia Quirke
Independent on Sunday…
Plot
The space transport vessel “Hunter-Gratzner” carrying 40 people on-board crashes on a desert planet when the ship is struck in a meteor storm. There are only 11 survivors, among them are pilot Carolyn Fry (Who has assumed command after the ship’s captain is killed), bounty hunter William J. Johns, religious man Abu Al-Walid, Antiques dealer Paris P. Ogilvie, runaway teenager Jack, settlers John ‘Zeke’ Ezekiel and his lover Sharon ‘Shazza’ Montgomery, and Richard B. Riddick, a dangerous escaped convict. Marooned, the survivors discover the barren and hot desert-scape has sunlight from three suns. Not only must they find food and water and worry about Riddick, the survivors find themselves being hunted by the planet’s flesh-eating alien inhabitants when the planet is engulfed in darkness, which happens every 22 years, as they emerge from underground to hunt and eat all signs of life. Fry and the survivors find Riddick is their best chance of survival, as Riddick has surgically-enhanced eyes that allow him to see in the dark as they set out to find a way of escaping from the planet and getting to an escape shuttle, before they all get eaten by the creatures on the surface.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels mentions that Pitch Black stars Vin Diesel in a “starmaking turn.”
David-Twohy.jpg
