Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.

Five years after the events in sci-fi film Pitch Black, escaped convict Riddick finds himself caught in the middle of a galactic war waged by Lord Marshal, the leader of a sect called the Necromongers. Riddick is charged with stopping the Necromonger army, all while rescuing an old friend from a prison planet and evading capture by bounty hunters.