Final Destination

Final Destination series
Directed by	James Wong (1, 3) David R. Ellis (2, 4) Steven Quale (5)
Written by	James Wong (3) Glen Morgan (3) Eric Bress (4) Eric Heisserer (5)
Screenplay by	Glen Morgan (1) James Wong (1) Jeffrey Reddick (1) J. Mackye Gruber (2) Eric Bress (2)
Story by	James Wong (1) Glen Morgan (1) Jeffrey Reddick (1, 2) J. Mackye Gruber (2) Eric Bress (2)
Produced by	Glen Morgan (1, 3) Warren Zide (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Craig Perry (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) James Wong (3)
Cinematography	Robert McLachlan (1, 3) Gary Capo (2) Glen MacPherson (4) Brian Pearson (5)
Edited by	James Coblentz (1) Eric Sears (2,5) Chris G. Willingham (3) Mark Stevens (4)
Music by	Shirley Walker (1, 2, 3) Brian Tyler (4, 5)
Production companies	Zide/Perry Productions (1, 2, 3, 4) Hard Eight Pictures (1, 3) Matinee Pictures (3) Practical Pictures (3, 5) Road Rebel (3) LivePlanet (4)
Distributed by	New Line Cinema (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Warner Bros. (5)
Release date	2000 (2000) – 2011 (2011)
Running time	363 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$173,000,000
Box office	$549,514,412

The Final Destination series 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).

Films

Final Destination (2000)

Main article: Final Destination

In 2000, 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. Five 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.

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Main article: Final Destination 2

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 and 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 resuccitated 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.

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Main article: Final Destination 3

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. Their attempts to survive later prove fruitless when all three cross paths five months later and are killed in a subway crash.

The Final Destination (2009)

Main article: The Final Destination

Nine years after the explosion of Flight 180, Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) has a premonition in which multiple race cars pile-up at the McKinley Speedway, killing his friends and causing a sharp metal pole to impale him through the 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. 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 survivors are killed in a series of bizarre accidents. The only exception is Janet, who is saved just moments before her death thanks to Nick's visions. This leads the survivors to believe they have beaten Death, until Nick has a vision of a disastrous explosion at a mall. Though Nick manages to stop this disaster as well, the film ends when he, Lori, and Janet are killed by a runaway semi.

Final Destination 5 (2011)

Main article: Final Destination 5

On a business trip with his employees at Presage Paper, Sam Lawton (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a premonition about the bridge he is on collapsing. 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, the remaining survivors are warned of Death's plans and told that their only means of survival is to kill somebody else and claim their remaining lifespan. Olivia and Dennis are both 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, on their way to Paris for a job apprenticeship, Sam and Molly are boarding Flight 180, where they heard of Alex's visions too late to exit the plane and are killed in the resulting accident. 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 the plane.

Future

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.

Cast

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 photography for the film.
• A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.

Main article: List of characters in the Final Destination series

Character	Film
	Final Destination (2000)	Final Destination 2 (2003)	Final Destination 3 (2006)	The Final Destination (2009)	Final Destination 5 (2011)	Final Destination 6 (2013)
William Bludworth	Tony Todd		Tony Todd (v)		Tony Todd
Clear Rivers	Ali Larter
Alex Browning	Devon Sawa	Devon Sawa (photo)			Devon Sawa (f)
Carter Horton	Kerr Smith	Kerr Smith (photo)			Kerr Smith (f)
Billy Hitchcock	Seann William Scott	Seann William Scott (photo)
Valerie Lewton	Kristen Cloke	Kristen Cloke (photo)			Kristen Cloke (f)
Terry Chaney	Amanda Detmer	Amanda Detmer (photo)			Amanda Detmer (f)
Tod Waggner	Chad Donella	Chad Donella (photo)
Larry Murnau	Forbes Angus				Forbes Angus (f)
George Waggner	Brendan Fehr
Agent Weine	Daniel Roebuck
Agent Schreck	Roger Guenveur Smith
Kimberly Corman		A. J. Cook	A. J. Cook (photo)
Thomas Burke		Michael Landes	Michael Landes (photo)
Eugene Dix		T. C. Carson
Rory Peters		Jonathan Cherry
Kat Jennings		Keegan Connor Tracy
Nora Carpenter		Lynda Boyd
Tim Carpenter		James Kirk
Evan Lewis		David Paetkau
Isabella Hudson		Justina Machado
Shaina McKlank		Sarah Carter
Dano Estevez		Alex Rae
Frankie Whitman		Shaun Sipos
Wendy Christensen			Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Kevin Fischer			Ryan Merriman
Julie Christensen			Amanda Crew
Ian McKinley			Kris Lemche
Perry Malinowski			Maggie Ma
Erin Ulmer			Alexz Johnson
Lewis Romero			Texas Battle
Franklin Cheeks			Sam Easton
Ashley Fruend			Chelan Simmons
Ashlyn Halperin			Crystal Lowe
Jason Wise			Jesse Moss
Carrie Dreyer			Gina Holden
Amber Regan			Ecstasia Sanders
Nick O'Bannon				Bobby Campo
Lori Milligan				Shantel VanSanten
Janet Cunningham				Haley Webb
Hunt Wynorski				Nick Zano
George Lanter				Mykelti Williamson
Andy Kewzer				Andrew Fiscella
Samantha Lane				Krista Allen
Carter Daniels				Justin Welborn
Nadia Monroy				Stephanie Honoré
Jonathan Groves				Jackson Walker
Cynthia Daniels				Lara Grice
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
Roy Carlson					Brent Stait
Kassidy Roemer						Briana Evigan
Wade Dunklemann						Jared Padalecki
Jill Edwards						Lily Collins
Vincent Pierce						Nico Tortorella
Jade Marsh						Meghan Ory
Rachel Turner						Lucy Hale
Ike Tyson						Cam Gigandet
Brenda Linning						Hayden Panettiere
Carly Reid						Jessica Stroup
Matthew O'Bryne						Chace Crawford
Karen McKenzie						Katerina Graham
Lance Morgan						Nick Lashaway Comic books 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. The miniseries was later released in a trade paperback collection, which included the Sacrifice comic as bonus content. Recurring Themes and Motifs The Final Destination films are known for their use of hidden themes and motives that link together the deaths, and sometimes the movies themselves. The whirlwind Before any impending death or near-death throughout all the films, there is always a noticeable wind, and many times, it is this wind that sets off the chain of events that will lead to a death or near-death. This wind will often also happen even when there is no apparent source for it. The Number "180" Within the Final Destination universe, the number "180" is an ominous and common number, usually marking the coming death of a character. The number refers to the series' original name, Flight 180, which was decided by New Line a name too easily confusable with other movies such as Air Force One and Con Air. The number has appeared in every film of the series, and always associated with the opening disaster: in the first film, it is Flight 180 that blows up just after takeoff; in Final Destination 2, there is an electronic construction sign adjacent to where the pile-up begins warning drivers about the next 180 feet and the farm where Kat and Rory die is near mile marker 180; in Final Destination 3, the key to the fork lift in the fix-it store where Erin dies has the number 081 on it and the subway accident involves Car 081; in the 4th film, the spectators at the race are all sitting in Section 180, and a bus that goes by at the end says "180" on the top of it; in Final Destination 5, the name of the business retreat the bus is headed for is "180 Corporate Consulting." 180 can be seen throughout the films, and always just before an impending death or near-death - sometimes as a mirrored 081, or in license plate numbers, in ticket numbers, as the time on a malfunctioning alarm clock, etc. The cafe in France that Alex, Carter, and Clear have a drink at at the end of the first Final Destination is revealed by the billboard above the restaurant to be Le Cafe Miro 81. However, when the billboard swings down to kill Carter, the sign is reversed, and the 'o' in the word "Miro" combined with the number 81 spells out "18o", ultimately spelling out the number 180. "McKinley" This name only appears in 2 of the movies, the third and fourth. In the third, it's both the name of the high school to which the main characters go, and the last name of the character Ian McKinley. In the fourth movie, the race track in which the accident occurs is revealed to be called "McKinley Speedway". The Mortician This ambiguous and somewhat suspect character appears in the films 1, 2, and 5. He is the mortician at the Mt. Abrams funeral parlor. In all appearances, he seems to have knowledge of death's "design" and how to possibly stop it, although he cautions that death does not like to be cheated. He also has intimate knowledge of the characters he speaks with (such as their name without having been introduced, etc.) although he has never met any of them previously, aside from Clear upon their 2nd meeting in the 2nd film. Clear Rivers Clear was a character in the first film, as well as a returned character in the second. In the fourth movie, Nick is seen driving up to a sign marked "Clear Rivers Water", where he has his next premonition. Hice Pale Ale This fictional brand of alcohol was seen in three of the movies. In Final Destination 2, a drunk driver driving a Hice Pale Ale Beer truck is seen before the pile-up, in the third movie it drives past the drive-through behind Wendy and Kevin, where it crushes their car against a wall, in the fourth film, the racist was seen drinking Hice Pale Ale, and in the fifth film the group of four survivors is seen drinking some Pale Ale Nathan stole from where he works. The name 'Hice' comes from the stunt Coordinator Freddie Hice who did the stunt work for Final Destination 2. Music Certain songs play a key factor in allowing the person who had the first vision to know that Death was soon upon one of the survivors. In the first Final Destination, Alex is forewarned to Death's presence by the John Denver song, "Rocky Mountain High" playing somewhere in the area, even hearing it in French before his own brush with mortality. This song also makes its appearance known in Final Destination 2, along with "Highway to Hell" by AC\DC. In Final Destination 3, Wendy is plagued by the classic hit "Turn Around, Look at Me" in places ranging from Kevin's car radio to a street performer on a train. In the 4th film, the song "Why Can't We Be Friends" plays when Carter Daniels' tow truck accelerated by itself after a 6-pack of beer fell on the gear shift with a gas leak and dragging chain snagging him before it catches fire and explodes. In Final Destination 5, the radio on the Presage Paper charter bus plays the song "Dust in the Wind." The song is one of Sam's signs of the terrible bridge collapse that was about to occur. On Flight 180, Sam hears the same song as he turns on the radio; a sign of his impending demise. Slushee Totally Cool This drink appears in Final Destination 3 and The Final Destination. The drink is being drunk by Ashley Freund and Ashlyn Halperin whilst visiting the tanning salon, where the manager asks them to throw away the drink as they made a mess the last time. Ashley deciding to keep her drink causes the machine that controls the sun beds UV lights to malfunction and heat up. In The Final Destination you can see Samantha Lane's two boys drinking the slushee as they both run into the hair salon with one boy slipping on moistener causing a mess. Lakeview Is a fictional town which appears in Final Destination 2 and The Final Destination. In Final Destination 2, Lakeview is where the hospital is located where Clear Rivers, Kimberly Corman and Thomas Burke all go and try to save Isabella from a doctor that they believe is going to kill her and where others meet their demise. In The Final Destination Lakeview is the fictional town where Samantha grew up. Related Events In Final Destination 2, it is revealed that each survivor of the pile-up previously had cheated death once before in their lives, and all stories can be traced back to the events in Final Destination: Eugene Dix was transferred to teach at Mt. Abrams High School, in order to fill the void left by Ms. Lewton, & 2 days later the teacher who took over for him at his previous school was stabbed to death by a student; Kat Jennings was a passenger on the bus that killed Terry, and because of the accident, she decided to cancel that trip she was on to a bed & breakfast - that night, there was a gas leak at the B&B that killed every guest there as they slept; Officer Burke would have been involved in a fatal shoot-out had he not been called away to the site of the train wreck that nearly kills Carter & does kill Billy Hitchcock; Kimberly would have died with her mother during the carjacking at the gas station had she not stopped to watch a news report about Todd's death; Rory Peters had tickets for a show at a theater adjacent to Le Cafe Miro 81, but decided to not attend after witnessing Carter's death at the cafe - and that night the entire theater collapsed and killed everyone inside. This chain of related events in the characters' lives continues to reveal itself time and again in the 3rd & 4th films. In Final Destination 5, Sam works part-time at Le Cafe Miro 81 in America. Being that he accepted the apprenticeship and was moving to work at the Paris restaurant, Sam would have worked at that same cafe that Alex, Carter, and Clear drank at if he wasn't killed. Reception Box office performance 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 $59,549,147 $112,880,294 #1,126 $23,000,000 Final Destination 2 January 31, 2003 $46,961,214 $43,465,191 $90,426,405 #1,305 $26,000,000 Final Destination 3 February 10, 2006 $54,098,051 $63,621,107 $117,719,158 #1,105 $34,000,000 The Final Destination August 28, 2009 $66,477,700 $119,689,439 $186,167,139 #861 $43,000,000 Final Destination 5 August 12, 2011 $41,927,879 $76,300,000 $118,227,879 #1,451 $40,000,000 Total $262,795,991 $362,624,884 $625,420,875 $173,000,000 Critical reception Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic Average ratings Overall Cream of the Crop Final Destination 33% (92 reviews) 36% (25 reviews) 36 (28 reviews) 35 Final Destination 2 47% (107 reviews) 30% (23 reviews) 38 (25 reviews) 38 Final Destination 3 45% (114 reviews) 31% (26 reviews) 41 (28 reviews) 39 The Final Destination 29% (93 reviews) 0% (9 reviews) 30 (14 reviews) 20 Final Destination 5 61% (115 reviews) 29% (24 reviews) 50 (24 reviews) 46 References Notes Further reading "Final Destination #1". Zenescope Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-11-14. "Final Destination #2". Zenescope Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-11-14. "Final Destination #3". Zenescope Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-11-14. "Final Destination #4". Zenescope Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-11-14. "Final Destination #5". Zenescope Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-11-14. "Final Destination Trade Paperback, Spring Break". Zenescope Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-01-13. External links Final Destination series at AllMovie