Final Destination

Final Destination
DVD set containing all five films
Directed by	Final Destination 1, 3 James Wong Final Destination 2, 4 David R. Ellis Final Destination 5 Steven Qualeu
Produced by	Glen Morgan Warren Zide Craig Perry Toby Emmerich Jeffrey Reddick James Wong Warren Zide
Screenplay by	Final Destination 1, 3 Glen Morgan Final Destination 1, 3 James Wong Final Destination Jeffrey Reddick Final Destination 2 J. Mackye Gruber Final Destination 2, 4 Eric Bress Final Destination 5 Eric Heisserer
Story by	Final Destination 1 Jeffrey Reddick Final Destination 2 Jeffrey Reddick J. Mackye Gruber Eric Bress
Based on	Characters  by Jeffrey Reddick
Starring	Devon Sawa Ali Larter Kerr Smith A.J. Cook Michael Landes Mary Elizabeth Winstead Ryan Merriman Bobby Campo Shantel VanSanten Mykelti Williamson Nicholas D'Agosto Emma Bell Tony Todd
Music by	Final Destination 1, 2, 3 Shirley Walker Final Destination 4, 5 Brian Tyler
Distributed by	Final Destination 1, 2, 3, New Line Cinema Final Destination 4, 5 Warner Bros.
Release dates	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$154 million
Box office	Total (5 films) US$665,080,639

Final Destination is an American horror franchise based on an unproduced spec script by Jeffrey Reddick, originally written 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 (for example, how to foresee, avoid, or control it). In a less abstract sense, each film features a protagonist having a premonition of a terrible accident that would kill numerous people, including the protagonist themself. The protagonist and several other people then escape from the scene of the accident, before it happens just like in the protagonist's vision.

The series is noteworthy amongst others in the horror genre in that the "villain" of the movies is not the stereotypical slashers, monsters, creatures, 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 premonitions) to escape their fates the first time. Some of them try to take their own lives by attempting suicide, but Death will thwart their attempt to ensure that they die the way it intends them to.

In addition to the films, a novel series (which includes the novelizations of the first three films) was published throughout 2005 and 2006 by Black Flame. A one-shot comic book titled Final Destination: Sacrifice was released alongside select DVDs of Final Destination 3 in 2006, and a comic series titled Final Destination: Spring Break was published by Zenescope Entertainment in 2007.

Films

Final Destination (2000)

High school student Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) boards Flight 180 for a field trip to Paris. Before take-off, Alex has a premonition that the plane will explode, killing everyone on board. When events from his vision begin to repeat themselves in reality, he panics, and a fight breaks out, resulting in 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), Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), and Tod Waggner (Chad Donella), who witness the plane explode, as Alex predicted. Over the next several months the survivors begin to die one by one, and Alex attempts to try to find a way to "cheat" Death's plan. Six months later, Alex, Clear, and Carter travel to Paris, believing they've finally cheated Death, however, Carter is suddenly crushed by a giant neon sign, revealing Death's plan is still in action.

Final Destination 2 (2003)

One year after the explosion of Flight 180, Kimberly "Kim" Corman (A. J. Cook) is on her way to Daytona Beach for spring break. En route, Kimberly has a premonition of a pileup on Route 23, killing everyone involved. She stalls her SUV on the entrance ramp preventing state trooper 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, an 18-wheeler truck plows into Kimberly's SUV, killing her three best friends Shaina, Dano, and Frankie (Sarah Carter, Alex Rae, and Shaun Sipos). In the days following the accident, Kimberly learns of the crash of Flight 180 and teams up with Clear, the last survivor, to try to save a new group of people from Death. The survivors learn that only "new life" can defeat Death, and are killed one by one through a series of freak accidents as Isabella's delivery date draws closer. It is revealed that Isabella was never meant to die in the pileup, and Kimberly drowns herself in the lake so that she can be resuscitated by emergency staff, thus granting her "new life"; saving her and Thomas.

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Six years after the explosion of Flight 180, and five years after the pileup on Route 23, Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a high school student, visits an amusement park 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), before the accident occurs, killing Jason and Carrie. A few days later, Kevin tells Wendy about the explosion of Flight 180, and claims that the people who got off of the roller coaster will die, just as Alex and his friends did. When the survivors begin to die in a series of strange accidents, Wendy and Kevin set out the save those who remain. Most of their attempts prove futile with the exception of Wendy's sister Julie, and themselves. They believe they have cheated death, however, the three "coincidentally" cross paths five months later and die in a horrifying subway accident.

The Final Destination (2009)

Ten years after the explosion of Flight 180, nine years after the pileup on route 23, and three years after the Devil's Flight derailment, Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) has a premonition in which multiple race cars crash at the McKinley Speedway, sending debris into the stands and causing the stadium to collapse on the spectators. Nick persuades his friends Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten), Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb), and Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano), security guard George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson), and spectators Jonathan Groves (Jackson Walker), Andy Kewzer (Andrew Fiscella), Samantha Lane (Krista Allen), Carter Daniels (Justin Welborn), and Nadia Monroy (Stephanie Honoré) to leave the stadium, before the accident occurs. Once again, the survivors are killed in a series of bizarre accidents except Janet, who is rescued just moments before her death thanks to Nick's visions. This leads the remaining survivors to believe they have cheated Death until Nick has another premonition of a disastrous explosion at a shopping mall, which he manages to prevent saving, him, Lori, and Janet. Two weeks later, Nick realizes the mall disaster vision was meant to lead them right where death wanted them to be and they are all hit by a runaway semi-trailer truck.

Final Destination 5 (2011)

Sam Lawton (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a premonition that the North Bay Bridge will collapse, killing everyone on it. As his vision becomes a reality, Sam manages to rescue his co-workers Molly Harper (Emma Bell), Nathan Sears (Arlen Escarpeta), Peter Friedkin (Miles Fisher), Dennis Lapman (David Koechner), Olivia Castle (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), Isaac Palmer (P. J. Byrne), and Candice Hooper (Ellen Wroe). After Candice and Isaac die in bizarre accidents, Sam is warned of Death's plans and told that his only means of survival are to kill somebody else and claim their remaining lifespan. Olivia and Dennis are killed before they have 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 attempts to kill Molly, jealous that she survived instead of Candice. Peter eventually gains the lifespan of an investigating agent, but is killed by Sam while attempting to kill Molly. Sam and Molly later board a flight to Paris, later revealed to be Flight 180, and both die in the resulting accident. The landing gear is sent towards New York City and crashes into a cocktail bar, killing Nathan.

Future

On February 1, 2011, Tony Todd said in an interview with DreadCentral that if Final Destination 5 was a success at the box office, then two sequels would be filmed back-to-back.^[1] On August 23, 2011, when inquired whether he would be directing a sequel, Steven Quale elaborated, "Who knows. Never say never. I mean, it'll be up to the fans. We'll see how this one performs internationally and if it makes as much money as the fourth one, I'm sure Warner Brothers will want to make another one."^[2]

Cast and characters

Novels

Throughout 2005, publishing company Black Flame released a series of Final Destination books which faithfully follow the premise of the films, with each involving a group of people who find themselves targeted by Death after surviving a catastrophe of some sort due to a character experiencing a precognitive vision.

• The first novel, entitled Dead Reckoning, has punk rocker Jessica Golden saving herself and several others from the collapse of Club Kitty in Los Angeles, earning Death's ire.^{[Novels 1]}

• Destination Zero, also set in LA, has magazine employee Patricia Fuller and few others survive a train bombing and afterward, while being stalked by Death, Patti learns this is not the first time her family has been hunted by the entity.^{[Novels 2]}

• End of the Line has a group of New York subway crash survivors, led by twins Danny and Louise King, trying to escape Death, who uses an unknowing agent to hasten its acquisition of the survivors.^{[Novels 3]}

• In Dead Man's Hand a group meant to die in the crash of a Las Vegas glass elevator are stalked by both Death and the FBI, the latter believing the group's savior Allie Goodwin-Gaines was responsible for the elevator crash.^{[Novels 4]}

• Looks Could Kill has beautiful New York model Stephanie "Sherry" Pulaski stopping her friends from boarding a yacht when she has a vision of it exploding, but is left horribly disfigured and comatose by flying debris moments afterward when her vision comes true; eventually awakening the embittered Stephanie makes a deal with Death, aiding it in claiming her friends in exchange for having her good looks restored.^{[Novels 5]}

• After the run of the original series of books Black Flame released novelizations of the first three films in January 2006.^{[Novels 6][Novels 7][Novels 8]} Black Flame's last Final Destination novel was Death of the Senses released in mid-2006. Taking place in New York the book has a homeless man named Jack Curtis saving policewoman Amy Tom from a maniac after having a vision of Amy's death; Amy's attacker is later revealed to be a serial killer who was meant to murder six other people (representing the first five senses and a sixth) who Death begins targeting as Jack and Amy rush to find and warn the intended victims.^{[Novels 9]} It was, due to a printing error, only available for a short period of time before being recalled, leaving only a few copies in circulation.

• A tenth novel, titled Wipeout and written by Alex Johnson, was planned, but cancelled; the book would have featured a pair of surfers and several others, after surviving a plane crash in Hawaii, being hunted by Death and the survivor of another disaster, an unstable soldier who had nearly died in an ambush in Afghanistan.^{[Novels 10]}

Comics

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.^[3] The miniseries was later released in a trade paperback collection, which included the Sacrifice comic as bonus content.^[3]

Reception

Box office performance

Critical and public reception

Spinoff works bibliography

Comics

Novels

References

External links

• Final Destination series at AllMovie