Final Destination (Exclusive Series) (HBO Max)

Initial release date: March 17, 2000

Studio: New Line Cinema

Tagline: Face Your Deepest Fears … Before They Face You

Death Doesn’t Take No For An Answer

Plot: Alex Browning is embarking on a trip to Paris. Alex experiences a premonition - he sees the plane explode moments after leaving the ground. He insists that everyone get off the plane and seven people, including Alex, are forced to disembark. All watch as the plane actually explodes in a fireball. He and the other survivors have briefly cheated death, but will not be able to evade their fate for very long. One by one, these fugitives from fate fall victim to the reaper.

Cast

Devon Sawa (Jarhead: Law of Return) - Alex Browning

Ali Larter (TVs The Rookie) - Clear Rivers

Kerr Smith (CWs Riverdale) - Carter Horton

Kristen Cloke (Lady Bird) - Valerie Newton

Daniel Roebuck (3 From Hell) - Agent Weine

Roger Guenveur Smith (Marshall) - Agent Schreck

Chad Donella (Taken 3) - Tod Waggner

Sean William Scott (Super Troopers 2) - Billy Hitchcock

Tony Todd (Candyman) - Bludworth

Amanda Detmer - Terry Chaney

Writer(s): Glen Morgan (Black Christmas); Final Destination 3)

James Wong (Final Destination 3; The One)

Jeffrey Reddick

Director: James Wong (Dragonball Evolution; Final Destination 3; The One)

Rated R for violence and terror, and for language (98 minutes)

All of the ‘Final Destination’ series have been entertaining and in a few cases not that memorable. The most memorable in the series has to go to the first installment - 2000s ‘Final Destination.’

The first movie’s main opening disaster - the plane blowing up - is truly iconic to the series and sort of what helps make the 2000 movie memorable. Also the premise of death going after the survivors one by one is very intriguing.

The movie also features a great deal of suspense and lots of fast-paced fun. Like most horror movies, ‘Final Destination’ is a guilty pleasure and gets better every time you see it. The entire series can be streamed on HBO Max.

Here are some interesting tidbits about ‘Final Destination’:

• The story was originally going to be the concept for an ‘X-Files’ episode.

• Much of the news footage shown is actual footage from the July 1996 explosion of TWA Flight 800 off East Moriches, Long Island, New York.

• When the students are boarding the plane, Alex looks down from the jetway and sees a luggage cart with the number 666 on it.

• The original plan was to have Death as a much more obvious entity in the film as it was in Tod’s death (with Tod seeing a shadow in the mirror and the water running back into the toilet to “cover its tracks”). After Tod’s death it was decided to have the deaths look like accidents.

• Filming took place on Long Island for the plane scene and Vancouver Island for the additional scenes.

• The film premiered on March 17, 2000 in 2,587 theaters across the US and Canada, earning $10,015,822 on its opening weekend. ‘Final Destination’ placed at No. 3 in the US box office on its opening weekend, behind ‘Erin Brockovich’ and ‘Mission to Mars.’

• It grossed $53.3. Million domestic during its theatrical run, and earned $59.6 million in other territories, earning an overall gross of $112.9 million internationally.

• The film had a major impact on the horror film audience, earning the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film in 2000.

• The film’s concept was listed at No. 46 in Bravo’s 100 Greatest Scary Moments.

• Rumors of a franchise “re-imagining” are in the works.

https://youtu.be/0N7iVgdi12g