| Final Destination | |
|---|---|
DVD box set containing the first four films |
|
| Directed by | Final Destination 1, 3 James Wong Final Destination 2, 4 David R. Ellis Final Destination 5 Steven Quale |
| Produced by | Glen Morgan Warren Zide Craig Perry Toby Emmerich Jeffrey Reddick James Wong Warren Zide |
| Starring | Tony Todd Ali Larter Devon Sawa A.J. Cook Michael Landes Mary Elizabeth Winstead Ryan Merriman Bobby Campo Shantel VanSanten Nicholas D'Agosto Emma Bell |
| Music by | Final Destination 1, 2, 3 Shirley Walker Final Destination 4, 5 Brian Tyler |
| Distributed by | Final Destination 1, 2, 3, 4 New Line Cinema Final Destination 5 Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | Final Destination March 17, 2000 Final Destination 2 January 31, 2003 Final Destination 3 February 10, 2006 The Final Destination August 28, 2009 Final Destination 5 August 12, 2011 |
| Running time | Total (5 films) 455 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Total (5 films) US$166-171 million |
| Box office | Total (5 films) US$$661,880,639 |
Final Destination is a series of horror films based on an unproduced script written by Jeffrey Reddick for the X-Files television series. Distributed by New Line Cinema, all five films are centered on the themes of fatalism, predestination, and precognition, in relation to death (i.e. how to foresee, avoid or control it). In a less abstract sense, each film features a group of people dying in a series of elaborate, invariably fatal and often gory scenarios that frequently resemble Rube Goldberg machines in their complexity.
The series is noteworthy amongst others in the horror genre in that the "villain" of the movies is not the stereotypical slashers, monsters, creatures, beasts, ghosts, or demons. It is the entity Death itself (very occasionally 'seen' as a fleeting shadow), which manipulates the environment in deadly ways with the intent of "recapturing" those who somehow manage (usually through warning premonitions) to escape their fates for the first time. The franchise has also spawned a related book series (published by Black Flame) and comic series (published by Zenescope Entertainment Inc).
Contents |
On September 25, 1999, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) is going on his high school trip to Paris along with his fellow students and teachers. Before the take-off, Alex has a premonition that the flight will explode on takeoff, killing everyone on board. When events from his vision begin to repeat themselves in reality, he attempts to stop the flight leading to a handful of passengers being left behind including Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), Carter Horton (Kerr Smith), Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott), Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke), Terri Chaney (Amanda Detmer), and Tod Waggner (Chad Donella). After Alex and his friends are forced off the plane, the airliner explodes in mid-air, killing everyone left on it. When Tod dies in a bizarre accident only a month later, Alex begins to suspect that they were never meant to get off the plane that night. As the survivors begin to die one-by-one, those that remain struggle to find a way to cheat Death's plan. Six months later, Alex, Clear, and Carter are relaxing in Paris having believed they've finally beaten Death. However, Carter is killed as he attempts to rescue Alex from a falling neon sign.
One year after the explosion of Flight 180, Kimberly "Kim" Corman (A. J. Cook) has a premonition of a pile-up on Route 23, killing everyone involved. She stalls her SUV on the entrance ramp with her three best friends Shaina, Dano, and Frankie (Sarah Carter, Alex Rae, and Shaun Sipos). This stops police officer Thomas Burke (Michael Landes), Eugene Dix (T.C. Carson), Rory Peters (Jonathan Cherry), Kat Jennings (Keegan Connor Tracy), Nora and Tim Carpenter (Lynda Boyd and James Kirk), Evan Lewis (David Paetkau), and pregnant Isabella Hudson (Justina Machado) from entering the freeway. While Officer Burke questions Kimberly about the inconvenience, her vision becomes a reality and an 18-wheeler truck carrying cars crashes into Kimberly's SUV, killing Shaina, Dano, and Frankie. In the days following the accident, Kimberly learns of the crash of Flight 180 and teams with only survivor, Clear, to try to save a new group of people from Death's plan. This time, the survivors are warned that only "new life" can stop Death and are killed one-by-one as they attempt to protect Isabella as her delivery date draws closer. It is revealed that Isabella was never meant to die and Kimberly drowns herself into the lake so that she may be granted "new life" after being resuscitated by emergency staff. The film ends with Kimberly and Officer Burke witnessing the death of a young boy saved by Rory during the course of the film, revealing that Death's plan is still in action.
Six years after the explosion of Flight 180, Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the school photographer at McKinley High School, visits an amusement park along with her friends Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman), Jason Wise (Jesse Moss), and Carrie Dreyer (Gina Holden). As Wendy and her friends board the Devil's Flight roller coaster, she has a premonition that it will crash, killing everyone on board. Wendy panics and manages to get off the roller coaster along with Kevin, Wendy's younger sister Julie (Amanda Crew), Ian McKinley (Kris Lemche), Perry Malinowski (Maggie Ma), Erin Ulmer (Alexz Johnson), Lewis Romero (Texas Battle), Frankie Cheeks (Sam Easton), and Ashley Freund and Ashlyn Halperin (Chelan Simmons and Crystal Lowe). Minutes later, the disaster occurs as Jason and Carrie are brutally killed. A few days after the disaster, Kevin told Wendy about the crash of Flight 180 from the first film, and claims that the people who got off of the roller coaster will start dying in the same order they were meant to die in, just as Alex and his friends did. Once again, survivors die in a series of strange accidents, but Wendy, Kevin, and Julie come to believe they've avoided their own fates after Ian killed himself. Five months later, their attempts to survive later prove fruitless when all three cross paths five months later and die in a bizarre subway accident.
Ten years after the explosion of Flight 180, Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) has a premonition in which multiple race cars will pile-up at the McKinley Speedway, killing his friends and causing a sharp metal pole to impale him through his chest. Nick immediately persuades his friends Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten), Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb), and Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano), security agent George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson), and spectators Andy Kewzer (Andrew Fiscella), Samantha Lane (Krista Allen), Carter Daniels (Justin Welborn), and Nadia Monroy (Stephanie Honoré) to leave the stadium, escaping seconds before Nick's vision becomes a reality then, Nadia dies after a flying tire shoots at her. When Nick hears of the deaths of some of the survivors, he learns about the previous disasters from the first three films and realizes that Death is coming for them. Once again, the other survivors are killed in a series of bizarre accidents except Janet, who is saved just moments before her death thanks to Nick's visions. This leads other survivors to believe they have beaten by Death until Nick has a premonition of a disastrous explosion at a shopping mall where he eventually rescue Lori and Janet. Although Nick manages to stop this disaster, he, Lori, and Janet are killed by a runaway semi in the cafe two weeks later.
While on his business trip with his employees at Presage Paper, Sam Lawton (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a premonition about the bridge he is on will collapse. As the vision becomes reality, Sam manages to save himself and his friends Molly Harper (Emma Bell), Candice Hooper (Ellen Wroe), Peter Friedkin (Miles Fisher), Isaac Palmer (P. J. Byrne), Nathan Sears (Arlen Escarpeta), Dennis Lapman (David Koechner), and Olivia Castle (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood). After Candice and Issac die in bizarre accidents, Sam is warned of Death's plans and told that his only means of survival is to kill somebody else and claim his remaining lifespan. Dennis and Olivia are killed before having a chance to save themselves, but Nathan successfully claims the lifespan of a co-worker when he accidentally causes his death in a warehouse accident. Peter decides to target Molly, jealous that she survived instead of his girlfriend, Candice. Peter eventually gains the lifespan of an investigating agent, but is killed by Sam while attacking Molly. Two weeks later, Sam and Molly are boarding Flight 180 to Paris for their job apprenticeship, where they heard of Alex's premonition from the first film and are too late to leave the plane and later killed in the resulting accident. Meanwhile, Nathan, who is in a nearby restaurant, learns that the construction worker he accidentally killed had a brain tumor that was likely to fatally erupt "any day, now" and is immediately killed by the landing gear as it falls from Flight 180.
On February 1, 2011, Tony Todd said in an interview with DreadCentral that if Final Destination 5 is a success at the box office, then two sequels would be filmed back-to-back.[1]
List indicator(s)
- (v) indicates the actor or actress lent only his or her voice for his or her film character
- (f) indicates the actor or actress did not appear in any new footage for the film; footage from an earlier film was used.
- (photo) indicates the actor or actress appeared in a photograph for the film.
- (s) indicates that the actor did not appear, but a CGI skeleton represented that character and their mode of death.
- A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.
| Character | Film | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final Destination (2000) |
Final Destination 2 (2003) |
Final Destination 3 (2006) |
The Final Destination (2009) |
Final Destination 5 (2011) |
|
| William Bludworth | Tony Todd | Tony Todd (v) | Tony Todd | ||
| Alex Browning | Devon Sawa | Devon Sawa (photo) | Devon Sawa (f) | ||
| Clear Rivers | Ali Larter | Ali Larter (s) | Ali Later (f) | ||
| Carter Horton | Kerr Smith | Kerr Smith (photo) | Kerr Smith (f) | ||
| Billy Hitchcock | Seann William Scott | Seann William Scott (photo) | Seann William Scott (s) | Seann William Scott (f) | |
| Valerie Lewton | Kristen Cloke | Kristen Cloke (photo) | Kristen Cloke (s) | Kristen Cloke (f) | |
| Terry Chaney | Amanda Detmer | Amanda Detmer (photo) | Amanda Detmer (f) | ||
| Tod Waggner | Chad Donella | Chad Donella (photo) | Chad Donella (s) | Chad Donella (f) | |
| Kimberly Corman | A. J. Cook | A. J. Cook (photo; DVD release) | |||
| Thomas Burke | Michael Landes | Michael Landes (photo; DVD release) | Michael Landes (f) | ||
| Eugene Dix | T. C. Carson | T.C. Carson (f) | |||
| Rory Peters | Jonathan Cherry | Jonathan Cherry (s) | Jonathan Cherry (f) | ||
| Kat Jennings | Keegan Connor Tracy | Keegan Connor Tracy(s) | Keegan Connor Tracy (f) | ||
| Nora Carpenter | Lynda Boyd | Lynda Boyd (s) | Lynda Boyd (f) | ||
| Tim Carpenter | James Kirk | James Kirk (f) | |||
| Evan Lewis | David Paetkau | David Paetkau (s) | David Paetkau (f) | ||
| Wendy Christensen | Mary Elizabeth Winstead | Mary Elizabeth Winstead (f) | |||
| Kevin Fischer | Ryan Merriman | Ryan Merriman (f) | |||
| Julie Christensen | Amanda Crew | Amanda Crew (f) | |||
| Ian McKinley | Kris Lemche | Kris Lemche (f) | |||
| Perry Malinowski | Maggie Ma | Maggie Ma (s) | Maggie Ma (f) | ||
| Erin Ulmer | Alexz Johnson | Alexz Johnson (s) | Alexz Johnson (f) | ||
| Lewis Romero | Texas Battle | Texas Battle (f) | |||
| Franklin Cheeks | Sam Easton | Sam Easton f) | |||
| Ashley Fruend | Chelan Simmons | Chelan Simmons (s) | Chelan Simmons (f) | ||
| Ashlyn Halperin | Crystal Lowe | Crystal Lowe (s) | Crystal Lowe (f) | ||
| Nick O'Bannon | Bobby Campo | Bobby Campo (f) | |||
| Lori Milligan | Shantel VanSanten | Shantel VanSanten (f) | |||
| Janet Cunningham | Haley Webb | Haley Webb (f) | |||
| Hunt Wynorski | Nick Zano | Nick Zano (f) | |||
| George Lanter | Mykelti Williamson | Mykelti Williamson (f) | |||
| Andy Kewzer | Andrew Fiscella | Andrew Fiscella (f) | |||
| Samantha Lane | Krista Allen | Krista Allen (f) | |||
| Carter Daniels | Justin Welborn | Justin Welborn (f) | |||
| Nadia Monroy | Stephanie Honoré | Stephanie Honoré (f) | |||
| Jonathan Groves | Jackson Walker | ||||
| Cynthia Daniels | Lara Grice | Lara Grice (f) | |||
| Sam Lawton | Nicholas D'Agosto | ||||
| Molly Harper | Emma Bell | ||||
| Peter Friedkin | Miles Fisher | ||||
| Agent Block | Courtney B. Vance | ||||
| Nathan Sears | Arlen Escarpeta | ||||
| Dennis Lapman | David Koechner | ||||
| Olivia Castle | Jacqueline MacInnes Wood | ||||
| Isaac Palmer | P. J. Byrne | ||||
| Candice Hooper | Ellen Wroe | ||||
The first Final Destination comic book, entitled Sacrifice, was published by Zenescope Entertainment and came packaged with a limited edition DVD of Final Destination 3 sold exclusively at Circuit City. The premise of the story involves the survivor of a terrible accident, who continually experiences images of other people's deaths, isolating himself from the rest of the world to escape the visions that torment him. Zenescope later released a five issue miniseries, subtitled Spring Break, which involves a group led by Carly Hagan being stalked by Death after surviving a hotel fire and becoming stranded in Cancún, Mexico.[2] The miniseries was later released in a trade paperback collection, which included the Sacrifice comic as bonus content.[3]
| Film | Release date | Box office revenue | Box office ranking | Budget | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Foreign | Worldwide | All time domestic | All time worldwide | ||||
| Final Destination | March 17, 2000 | $53,331,147 (47.2%) | $59,549,147 (52.8%) | $112,880,294 | #1,130 | $23,000,000 | [4] | |
| Final Destination 2 | January 31, 2003 | $46,961,214 (51.9%) | $43,465,191 (48.1%) | $90,426,405 | #1,309 | $26,000,000 | [5][6] | |
| Final Destination 3 | February 10, 2006 | $54,098,051 (46.0%) | $63,621,107 (54.0%) | $117,719,158 | #1,110 | $34,000,000 | [7] | |
| The Final Destination | August 28, 2009 | $66,477,700 (35.7%) | $119,689,439 (64.3%) | $186,167,139 | #862 | $43,000,000 | [8] | |
| Final Destination 5 | August 12, 2011 | $42,587,643 (27.0%) | $115,300,000 (73.0%) | $157,887,643 | #1,440 | $40,000,000 | [9] | |
| Total | $263,455,755 | $398,424,884 | $661,880,639 | $173,000,000 | ||||
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|
| Final Destination | 33% (93 reviews) (4.7/10)[10] | 36 (28 reviews)[11] |
| Final Destination 2 | 47% (107 reviews) (5.0/10)[12] | 38 (25 reviews)[13] |
| Final Destination 3 | 45% (114 reviews) (5.1/10)[14] | 41 (28 reviews)[15] |
| The Final Destination | 30% (94 reviews) (4.3/10)[16] | 30 (14 reviews)[17] |
| Final Destination 5 | 61% (118 reviews) (5.8/10)[18] | 50 (24 reviews)[19] |
| Overall | 43% | 39 |
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