The Chronicles of Riddick

David Twohy’s film leaves the small scale survival story of Pitch Black for the universe mythology of a dynasty called the Necromongers. Twohy later said they possibly suffered from overreach. The key fact is the rating. Pitch Black went out rated R; this one was made PG-13, and in Twohy’s words that meant downplaying much of the action and removing much of the blood. The cut material returned that November as an unrated director’s cut on DVD. So the version you watch decides how hard the film hits, and the cinema one is the softened cut. Judi Dench plays Aereon, one of the Elementals, a species Vin Diesel says he took from the Dungeons and Dragons he plays. Her recruitment story: the bouquet Diesel sent was too big to get up the stairs to her dressing room. Pitch Black took 53.2 million dollars worldwide, this one 115.9 million, yet it counted as a commercial disappointment despite topping the series. Between the two live action films sits Dark Fury, animated by Peter Chung. A good fit if you can take the replacement of Riddick by dynastic mythology as a separate job, not a loss. Not for anyone after the blood and threat level of Pitch Black: that material came out for the PG-13 and returned only in the unrated cut.