Final Destination is a 2000 American horror film directed by James Wong, and is the first installment of the Final Destination film series. It stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, and Tony Todd. It was released on March 17, 2000. The film's success created a new franchise, adding four other installments to the franchise, as well as other novels and comic books.
Plot[]
High school student Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) boards Volée Airlines on a trip to Paris with his classmates for their senior year. Just before take-off, Alex has a premonition that the plane will have a mechanical failure, exploding and killing everyone on board. When some parts of his vision start happening in real life, he freaks out, causing a fight between him and his rival, Carter Horton (Kerr Smith). They both get dragged off the plane, as well as Alex's friend Tod Waggner (Chad E. Donella), Carter's girlfriend Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), student Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott), teacher Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke), and Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), who deboards the plane of her own volition. No one believes Alex except Clear, until the plane explodes after take-off. Afterwards. the survivors are interrogated by Agent Weine and Agent Schreck, who believe that Alex was responsible for the plane accident.
Thirty-nine days later, after a memorial service for those who died on the plane, a bizarre chain of events causes Tod to accidentally hang himself in his bathroom. His death is ruled as a suicide, but Alex and Clear decide to sneak inside the funeral home to examine Tod's corpse. They are caught by the mortician, William Bludworth (Tony Todd), and he tells the former that they disrupted Death's plan because they were supposed to die on the flight, and Death is now reclaiming those who were supposed to die.
Alex and Clear are discussing what to do next, when suddenly all the survivors coincidentally end up at the same cafe. Alex and Carter are about to start fighting again, but Terry interrupts them and breaks up with Carter. She is about to leave as she is hit by a speeding bus. After seeing a news report on the accident, Alex figures out that Death is claiming the lives of the survivors in the order that they were supposed to die on Flight 180. He realizes that Valerie Lewton is next, and goes to warn her about her impending demise. Lewton notices Alex outside on her driveway at night, believing he is up to no good, and calls the FBI who arrest him on the scene. They release him after questioning Alex, but is too late to save Lewton, who is killed by a falling kitchen knife.
The remaining survivors meet up while driving through town and Alex tries to explain the situation. Carter has a breakdown after the death of Terry and he stops his car on a railroad that a train is about to go over. Alex, Clear, and Billy escape from the car while Carter patiently waits for his death. However, when the train starts nearing, Carter changes his mind, but suddenly his car won't start, his doors are locked, and his seatbelt won't unbuckle. Alex intervenes and frees Carter at the very last second, but a piece of shrapnel from Carter's car launches into the air, decapitating Billy. Alex realizes that since he intervened in Carter's death, Death skipped over him and got the next person. He believes that he is next, and they flee the scene.
Alex spends some time in a cabin, where he is death-proofing the house, when he realizes that since he swapped seats with someone, Clear is actually next. He rushes to her house while being pursued by the FBI, as they believe he was responsible for Valerie's death. He finds Clear trapped in her car by loose electrical cables that ignite a flame under her car, and he grabs the cable with his hands, allowing Clear to escape before the car explodes.
Six months later, Alex, Clear and Carter travel to Paris to celebrate their survival. Alex reveals Death never skipped him after intervening in Clear's. Worrying that he is still next, Alex retreats when a bus hits a sign that knocks loose a large neon sign, and it swings toward him. Carter pushes him away at the last second, but the sign swings back and kills the former, leaving Death's plan to resume action.
Cast[]
- Devon Sawa as Alex Browning
- Ali Larter as Clear Rivers
- Kerr Smith as Carter Horton
- Kristen Cloke as Valerie Lewton
- Daniel Roebuck as Agent Weine
- Roger Guenveur Smith as Agent Schreck
- Chad E. Donella as Tod Waggner
- Seann William Scott as Billy Hitchcock
- Tony Todd as William Bludworth
- Amanda Detmer as Terry Chaney
- Brendan Fehr as George Waggner
- Lisa Marie Caruk as Christa Marsh
- Christine Chatelain as Blake Dreyer
- Forbes Angus as Larry Murnau
- Barbara Tyson as Barbara Browning
- Robert Wisden as Ken Browning
Release[]
Box office[]
The film premiered on March 17, 2000, in 2,587 theaters across the United States and Canada, earning $10,015,822 on its opening weekend, with an average of $3,871 per theater. Final Destination placed at No. 3 in the United States box office on its opening weekend, behind biography film Erin Brockovich and the science fiction film Mission to Mars. The film remained at No. 3 during the second weekend, before dropping to No. 7 on its third weekend. Final Destination continuously dropped across subsequent weekends until it fell from the top-10 list on its eighth weekend. The film lasted in theaters for 22 weekends, its last screening airing in 105 theaters and grossing $52,675, placing at No. 56. Final Destination grossed $53,331,147 in the United States and Canada on its total screening, and earned $59,549,147 in other territories, earning an overall gross of $112,880,294 internationally.
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