The hot desert where they filmed was actually about ten degrees Celsius (fifty degrees Fahrenheit). They were misting water on the actors to make it appear as if they were sweating.

Pitch Black (2000) was supposed to be a stand-alone film, but during production, Vin Diesel and the cast and crew had become intrigued by the Riddick character and the ending, in which Riddick was supposed to die. This was changed to leave an opening for a sequel with Vin Diesel returning. The film spawned three sequels, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) (animated), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), and Riddick (2013).

Vin Diesel actually performed the shoulder-dislocation stunt (when Riddick breaks free for the second time) for the crew, holding a chain between his hands, although he couldn't do it with the cuffs on. The version we see is mostly him with some special effects thrown in.

Vin Diesel had an anxiety attack while inside the cryo-chamber as he felt he was trapped in there too long.

The full-size spaceship stage used in the movie can be found in the Australian outback mining town of Coober Pedy, in South Australia, Australia. Bought by a local businessman soon after filming was completed, it sits out in the open. Entry to the site is on Hutchison Street, opposite Winch Street. It is marked, and can be seen clearly on Google Maps. More information can be found on the web.

Continuity

When they are all in the room, drinking water, discussing what happened to the previous miners, the bruise on Riddick's head disappears between shots.

When Fry finds the model of the solar system the first time, it rotates counterclockwise and the counter goes from 15 to 16. At the second time, when the counter goes up multiple years, it rotates clockwise.

Shazza rips up the same tarp that Zeke already ripped up.

When Ali runs into the closet, he is surrounded by a flock of the raptors. In the reverse shot, from inside the closet, there are no raptors around him at all.

Timeline Error: Fry found core samples dated 22 years prior to their arrival, which caused her to think that some event occurred 22 years prior. The 22 year cycle is confirmed by the solar system model, and Fry continues to move the model, which would have shown a minimum 1 year darkness period had she continued. If the event occurs every 22 years between dark periods, then the core sample would have been dated at least 23 years prior, or they had just emerged from the period of darkness.



Factual errors

The ringed planet has two distinct sets of rings on parallel planes. Such a configuration cannot exist; the various forces acting on the dust particles that make up a planetary ring push them on a plane that passes through the center of the planet.

The spirits bottles are supposed to provide light as spirits "burns rather well". However the flame produced by burning alcohol is blue and dim, far from the yellow smoky, kerosene-like flame displayed in the movie.

The planet's only night occurs during a rare planetary alignment. As the ringed planet dawns on the horizon, it progresses visibly, moving so fast that the eclipse is already happening after just 2 minutes. Any planet appearing that large would be catastrophically close, but that detail isn't as important as the fact the rate at which it is rising would mean the entire event would be finished in just 5 minutes. And that's assuming the entire body of the planet transits the primary stars. It doesn't, though. Clearly only the edge of the ringed world blots out the stars. That would mean the crew would only need to survive the next minute before they were safe again. Yet the rest of the film takes place in darkness till the very end.

Right after everyone realizes that the planet is lit by three suns, only one set of shadows cast per person is visible on the ground. Due to multiple sources of light around, there should have been multiple set of shadows cast by each person (around 0:16:26 in the theatrical version).

When Johns loads his tube-fed shotgun toward the end, he puts his Red Shell in first, then 3 more shells afterward. We don't see a round rack into the chamber, so the gun is already loaded. Johns fires a shot, then the next round is the Red Shell. In reality, the red shell would be the last round to cycle into the chamber, because it is farthest up the tube. The rounds feed into the chamber starting with the last round fed into the tube.



Incorrectly regarded as goofs

During a solar eclipse it is impossible to see the full shape of the eclipsing object - you can only see the sun's disc being obstructed. This is due to the fact that the back side cannot be darker than the dark sky around - which is still true when there is an atmosphere which diffuses the sunlight at the location of observation. However, during the eclipse scene, the obstructing planet is clearly visible from its back side. This would be entirely possible in a three-star system.

When Carolyn walks into the lab at the human settlement there is a model of the planet, its surrounding planets and the three suns. The planet they are on is not the object everything is rotating around, it is the 2nd planet from the center. So that the ringed planet blocks two suns and a smaller planet blocks the blue sun. However, what the planets and suns are rotating around, if anything, is unknown to the viewer.

Solar power doesn't "work" in the manner suggested by the film. The cells would charge batteries which would then be used to drive motors. A solar system that required constant light to run would be inefficient and completely useless at night. The solar dune buggy would have charged its battery system and then run so long as the batteries were charged. The same would go for any of the lights or equipment powered by the solar cells. However, given the premise of the film that the planet is continuously bathed in light, there would be no need to store solar power, so the equipment may not have had batteries.

The twin suns shown being blocked out by the ringed gas giant are shown to be at the same location relative to one another in space. This is not possible as their gravity would have them tidally locked and thus would have destroyed them and likely half of their system. While it's possible that they would occasionally align, to do so more than briefly would tear them apart. Being at the same location relative to one another does not mean they are close in distance. Think of the Moon, Jupiter and Sirius in alignment, the same location relative to each other, but not close enough to affect each other.

When Johns says that it's a bit of a bad sign being Riddick's direction. Fry says that she thought Johns found his restraints towards the sunset. Johns replies that means Riddick went towards sunrise. With 3 suns, 2 opposing 1, they couldn't possibly know where is sunrise or sunset. Or morning or afternoon for that matter. However, sunrise is where a sun comes up, which is where Riddick went.



Revealing mistakes

Obvious doubles in the scene where the crew boards Shazza's ride to escape from the eclipse, just as they ride through the skeleton barrier.

During Riddick's monologue in the beginning of the movie, right after he says "Smelled a woman", Shazza opens her eyes for a second while she's supposed to be in her cryo-sleep.

When Fry is climbing out of the cave, the "solid" walls shake.



Miscellaneous

At the speed the ship was traveling during landing, when the 'windshield' shatters and all the glass pieces hit Fry, she would have been shredded, even with safety glass. At the least, she would have been severally bruised around the face.



Audio/visual unsynchronized

During Fry and John's discussion about his drug habits, Fry's lips don't move during her last line.



Crew or equipment visible

During the talk between Carolyn and John's about his addiction around 55 minutes in, you can hear "quiet on the set" yelled out two times in a shallow echo from back stage.

In the darkened hallway immediately after the eclipse, the shadow of a camera is visible (at least in the wide-screen version) on the left third of the screen.

Although the planet's surface is supposed to be completely dark - "pitch black", as it were - the landscape is actually almost always fairly brightly lit, and the characters habitually have visible, very distinctive shadows that clearly betray the strong lights they used in the filming. The less light the characters themselves are carrying, the more obvious this becomes.



Character error

Paris says that spirits "over 45 proof burn quite well". Spirits over 90 proof (45% alcohol by volume) are highly flammable. Lower proof spirits need to be warmed before their vapor can be ignited.

When Johns says how long could the eclipse last. A few hours or a day tops. Imam says that will be a lasting darkness 2 planets are moving as one. He should have said 3 planets moving as one. Same thing goes for the eclipse itself. Should have been 2 planets blocking the 3 suns.

As the Hunter Gratzner was falling toward the planet, Fry was desperately trying to bring the nose down because the computer was telling her the center of gravity was too far back. Bringing the nose down would only increase the speed, which is of no use in a space freighter with no wings and no aeronautical controls. Better to bleed off speed by remaining nose up, like the space shuttle lands and like Hawk Hawkins' Tommy Lee Jones flying brick.

When Carolyn first addresses Imam, she quite obviously pronounces his name "ell-mom," as though the capital I in his title were a lower-case L.

When the 3 survivors reach the ship without Riddick, Fry goes looking for him. Imam should have stopped her with the wisdom that she could fly the ship and Riddick can fly the ship so if she goes looking and nobody returns, no one else can fly it. Imam would have gone looking for Riddick while Fry stayed with Jack and prepared the ship.