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An underrated Guy Ritchie movie that broke a more than decade-long cinematic streak is starting to lose its grip on the streaming charts.

Per FlixPatrol, 2021's Wrath of Manhas slowly slipped down the top streaming movies chart for Hulu for Jul. 16, leaving it at the number eight spot on the list. As of now, Wrath of Man only sits above The Equalizer 3 and Back to the Future in the top ten, while competition such as The Longest Yard starring Adam Sandler and Bridesmaids continue to make their way up the list.

Directed by Ritchie from a screenplay co-written alongside Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, Wrath of Man starred Jason Statham in what was then his first collaboration with Ritchie for more than 16 years. Based on Éric Besndard's 2004 French crime drama Le Convoyeur (Cash Truck), Wrath of Man saw Statham take on the role of Patrick "H" Hill, a newly...

Tuesday on David Duchovny's Fail Better podcast, the actor reunited with The X-Files creator Chris Carter to rehash the good times and also the "difficult times" during their time working on the Emmy-winning sci-fi hit about FBI agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigating unexplained phenomenon. The program aired on Fox from 1993 to 2002, with two feature films in 1998 and 2008, and a two-season revival in 2016 and 2018.

Duchovny began by saying that it's "obvious history" that his "entire career was made possible by The X-Files." The actor then delved into the troubles behind the scenes when he left after Season 7. (Mulder appeared in half of Season 8 and in the original series finale in Season 9).

"Something lost in the times that we've done a reboot of the show, twice now, and even the second movie, goes back to me leaving the show," Duchovny declared. "We don't have to, like,...

One wonders what kind of film Final Destination might have been in quieter, more artful hands: a freely flowing drama, sans judgment, about seven people stepping off a plane because one had a panic attack—the plane exploding shortly after in the background, and the survivors dying in their own way over the course of mere days. It’s a canonically disturbing thought to work through, and that’s precisely where James Wong’s entertaining and surprisingly intelligent franchise-starter holds its big, beating mainstream heart. A campy horror film that treats a colossal, inexplicable turn of fate like a slasher-thriller, Final Destination began as a spec script for an episode of The X-Files, written by Jeffrey Reddick and later adapted into feature format upon studio persuasion. That the decision paid off is clear in our viewing experience—without compromising its pop-culture, trope-laden fabric, it sets itself apart by appealing to the unseen in thrilling,...

Warning: The following contains major spoilers for Final Destination: Bloodlines.

Final Destination feels like an anomaly. Debuting in 2000, James Wong’s brutal shocker serves as a bridge between the teen slashers of the late ’90s and the gritty torture porn films that would dominate the genre in years to come. Spiraling into four inventive sequels, the franchise explores abject horror with increasingly gruesome variations on a well-loved and surprisingly simple formula. A young man or woman has a vision of imminent disaster and saves a handful of people meant to perish in the carnage, but once the dust of mass casualty settles, the survivors begin to die in unthinkable ways. It seems Death itself is targeting them, intent on cleaning up the loose ends of its master plan.

After lying dormant for fourteen years, directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein bring Death roaring back to the big screen with...

Editor's note: This article contains spoilers for Final Destination Bloodlines.

This weekend’s theatrical arrival of Final Destination Bloodlines marks a bittersweet occasion. On the plus side, the movie finally brings audiences back to the world first introduced by filmmaker James Wong in his 2000 production, Final Destination. It’s been a long wait, but one that’s definitely worth it thanks to an incredible storyline, directorial team, and ensemble of performers. For many of us though, the film's debut marks the solemn end of an era as we collectively bid adieu to the legendary Tony Todd.

Todd has been part of the Final Destination family since the very first installment and is a horror icon all on his own thanks to his work in the Candyman franchise. Bloodlines marks not only the actor’s last turn as William Bludworth, but also his final film role, as he sadly passed away back in November.

[Editor’s note: this list was originally published in March 2025. It has since been updated with “Final Destination 5.”]

Like it or not, 2025 is rapidly becoming the Year of the Freak Accident.

In horror, everybody from audiences who loved “The Monkey” to that very flammable fellow in “The Rule of Jenny Pen” is feeling it. But there’s even more now that “Final Destination” — the genre’s most criminally underrated supernatural franchise — has returned with scads more not-so-accidental deaths.

The aughts used to get a bad rap in pop culture, but that’s improved somewhat in recent years. As filmmakers have released their death-grip obsession on the ’80s, familiar faces and franchises from throughout the 2000s have reemerged across all types of movies and TV. Right now, for example, you can see the forty-something “Veronica Mars” dating that forty-something guy from “The O.C.” in a rom-com on Netflix that’s been wildly popular — in spite of the title “Nobody Wants This.”

When it comes to nostalgia for aughts-era nightmares,...

Death always finds a way.

This was the central conceit of “Final Destination,” a 2000 horror movie, released just past the slasher movie renaissance that began with “Scream” in 1995, that went on to have a uniquely satisfying run all its own. Each movie starts with a group of strangers narrowly avoiding calamity, with the rest of the runtime filled with death eagerly hunting them through ingenious accidents. The latest film, “Final Destination Bloodlines,” was originally earmarked for a streaming debut but has mercifully shifted into a theatrical event – the kind of movie that you laugh and scream along with a packed auditorium full of similarly anxious strangers.

In honor of “Final Destination Bloodlines” and in celebration of one of the most creative horror franchises of all time, we’re going through the entire series – ranking the movies from the worst to the bloody best.

New Line Cinema 6. “The Final Destination” (2009)

“The Final Destination,...

This article contains spoilers for the "Final Destination" franchise, including "Bloodlines."

One of the highlights of 2000's "Final Destination" is how Glen Morgan and James Wong reconfigured Jeffrey Reddick's premise about a boy helping himself and others escape their fate after having a premonition of a deadly airplane accident into a slasher film where the killer is literally Death. Not only did this mean that Death was never personified or ever really seen in the movie, but it also allowed for Morgan and Wong (the latter also being the director) to present each kill scene as a series of escalating mishaps and accidents, essentially turning each setpiece into a Rube Goldberg-esque machine of mayhem. When "Final Destination 2" was made just a few years later, the filmmakers could've simply written a sequel that repeated the premise of the first film, and ostensibly, they did. It's a formula that would work,...

Idle Hands, House on Haunted Hill, Dawson’s Creek, American Pie — these are some of the projects that you’d likely have spotted the cast of the original Final Destination in before the franchise-starting movie had its date with destiny in 2000. And, while Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, and Seann William Scott were all recognizable faces at the turn of the millennium, they weren’t quite as huge as, say, Kirsten Dunst or Courteney Cox — and that was the point. During an exciting live installment of Collider Ladies Night with Perri Nemiroff, which was preceded by a screening of Final Destination: Bloodlines, longtime franchise producer Sheila Hanahan Taylor spoke about the first casting decisions that allowed the movie to be not just entertaining but terrifyingly relatable.

When beginning to visualize and craft the harrowing story of Final Destination from script to screen, co-scribes Glen Morgan and James Wong already had...

For 25 years, the Final Destination franchise has shown audiences some of their worst fears realized. What most folks probably don’t notice is that in every movie, including the newest entry, Final Destination Bloodlines, there is some form of gastro-related death.

You’re probably wondering what I’m even talking about and why it’s relevant. Let’s start with the basics: gastro horror is horror that’s based around food, kitchens, restaurants, etc. You might think it’s all killer food like tomatoes or donuts, but it goes beyond that. Food in horror plays with the idea that not only is the boogeyman out to get us, but also our own kitchen. Eating is a necessity for survival, so what do you do when most means of food preparation can kill you when you’re trying to sustain yourself?

I asked the series creator Jeffrey Reddick how he felt...

After sitting out the sequel Final Destination 2, original Final Destination director/co-writer James Wong and co-writer Glen Morgan returned for the series’ roller coaster of a third installment, Final Destination 3. This time, the sequel would operate as a standalone set six years after the first film.

Final Destination 3 may feel smaller in scale based on the catastrophe that sets Death’s design in motion, but Wong and Morgan inject new ideas and slight twists to the well-established formula. That includes how high school student Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) picks up on Death’s clues and the kill order through photographs she took on the ill-fated day.

Final Destination 3 also escalates the stakes in the grand finale with a second full-blown mass casualty event, one that hits closer to home for many compared to the memorable amusement park opening. The third installment is also the first...

The Warner Bros wave at the box office continues this weekend with New Line’s Final Destination Bloodlines, the first sequel in 14 years in the 25-year-old horror franchise. It is eyeing a series-record start between $35 million-$40 million at 3,400 locations.

The global outlook for Bloodlines is $70M, with 74 territories going with the U.S.-Canada debut.

The R-rated Zach Lipovsky- and Adam B. Stein-directed feature is very strong with women under 25 both in unaided awareness and first choice, followed by guys under 25. The best Final Destination opening to date belongs to 2009’s The Final Destination, which posted a $27.4M three-day total. Through five movies, the Final Destination titles have minted north of $666M worldwide.

The first installment in the series was based on a story by Jeffrey Reddick that was intended to be an X-Files episode, but was flipped into a screenplay by Glen Morgan & James Wong and Reddick.

The Final Destination movies are known for traumatizing an entire generation of audiences, yet we cannot seem to have enough of them. From the moment it debuted 25 years ago, the franchise has shocked audiences with its mind-bending plot, making us come back for more, movie after movie.

The franchise carved for itself a unique niche in the horror genre, redefining the genre with its unique premise of ordinary individuals cheating death. Ever since its debut, the franchise has captivated audiences with heart-pounding suspense, jaw-dropping death sequences, and a haunting exploration of fate’s inescapable grip. Each installment thus keeps building on its core concept, making fans return.

So far, the franchise has spawned six Final Destination movies, starring a range of actors and following the same narrative of a group of people trying to escape death after a premonition, only to be hunted by Death itself through a series of elaborate and brutal accidents.

With its latest sequel in cinemas, we look back at the dark concept that has turned Final Destination into a 25-year-old franchise.

Nb: The following contains spoilers for Final Destination (2000).

There’s a scene early in Final Destination where protagonist Alex (Devon Sawa) gets on a busy plane to Paris, and his best friend Todd (Chad Donella) looks around at the other passengers. In a misguided attempt to ease Alex’s fear of flying, Todd nods to a baby and says something to the effect of, “That’s a good sign – the younger the better. It’d be a fucked-up God to take down this plane.”

It’s a disposable-sounding line that, in retrospect, sums up the terrifying universe that Final Destination has built up over its 25 years as a film franchise. From the earliest scenes in director James Wong’s horror, released in 2000, it establishes a plane of existence...

You know how this is going to go. Someone has a premonition of a ghastly, freakish chain of events that results in mass casualty, a vision of such tactility that it feels realer than real — and then they come to, mere moments before the real thing begins. Yet, after saving several lives, the survivors begin to die anyway, one by one: also in ghastly fashion, also in freakish, Rube Goldberg machine-like sequences. Death doesn’t like it when you cheat.

It’s an ingenious recipe James Wong introduced with co-writers Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick in 2000, and with each subsequent sequel, there hasn’t been a ton of variation on the theme. Just more and more inventive ways to kill off a character. Final Destination Bloodlines offers everything fans of the franchise have come to expect: a bawdy mix of slapstick humor and gruesome, kinetically charged deaths. But directors Zach Lipovsky...

Twenty five years ago, a new horror franchise was born with 2000’s Final Destination, a supernatural horror film that made Death an unstoppable slasher villain that employed Rube Goldberg machine-like tactics to reclaim the lives of those who evaded his grasp.

Final Destination, directed by James Wong and written by Wong, Jeffrey Reddick, and Glen Morgan, featured a clever setup that presented no shortage of creativity when it comes to delivering over-the-top kills and breathless, nail-biting suspense thanks to the elaborate series of events that would result in a gnarly and sometimes comically complex death sequences.

The series, now six entries deep thanks to this week’s release of Final Destination Bloodlines, offers some of horror’s most unforgettable kills, so much so that we’ve ranked the entire franchise (so far) by Death’s Designs.

In anticipation of the sixth installment, we’re retracing Death’s steps to examine the established lore,...

Did a real tragedy inspire The Final Destination? ( Photo Credit – YouTube )

What if skipping a flight could spark a billion-dollar horror franchise? That’s exactly what happened—sort of Final Destination, the now-iconic supernatural thriller, wasn’t just a twisted brainchild cooked up in Hollywood. It was inspired by a real-life story that still gives people goosebumps.

Jeffrey Reddick, the mastermind behind the franchise, looked back at how it all began during a promo chat for his movie Til Death Do Us Part (via Collider). While catching up with fans, Reddick dropped a fun little behind-the-scenes fact: Final Destination was born from an eerie article he read while flying home to Kentucky.

“I read an article about a woman who was on a flight… her mom told her not to take it because she had a bad feeling. She switched planes, and the one she was supposed to be on crashed,...

'Final Destination: Bloodlines' viewers will immediately be "thrown for a loop".Director Zach Lipovsky - who has helmed the movie with Adam Stein - has offered some teases about the sixth installment of the horror franchise and told how the opening sequence will differ to what has come before.He told SFX magazine: “For this film, the first premonition takes place in 1969."There are lots of deaths during the premonition, which is what normally happens in the opening sequence of a 'Final Destination' movie, but we then come out of the eye of a different person in the modern day. That’s new. "For a lot of fans, I think that’s going to immediately throw them for a loop. It’s going to make them lean forward to try and figure out what’s going on.”And as the film progresses, the directors found "delight" and making...

Final Destination Bloodlines co-director Zach Lipovsky says the upcoming horror sequel will be different from the previous five movies in the supernatural film franchise. The film marks Lipovsky’s third directorial collaboration with Emmy-nominated Adam Stein.

During a recent interview with SFX Magazine, Lipovsky hinted at what fans can expect from Bloodlines, teasing the new elements they’ve added to the story. "For this film, the first premonition takes place in 1969," he shared. "There are lots of deaths during the premonition, which is what normally happens in the opening sequence of a Final Destination movie, but we then come out of the eye of a different person in the modern day. That's new."

"For a lot of fans, I think that's going to immediately throw them for a loop. It's going to make them lean forward to try and figure out what's going on," Lipovsky continued. "As moviegoers, we love...

This article contains spoilers for the first five "Final Destination" movies.

A good hook in a horror sequel can lure audiences in with the promise of a shakeup to the formula, whether it be adding a supernatural twist, ramping up the gore effects, or adopting a different tone altogether. You don't want a cool idea to get stale. One of the greatest strengths of "Final Destination" as a franchise is that each new film has mostly been able to sell itself by demolishing the sanctity of our everyday routines. James Wong, Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick redefined the fear of flying for an entire generation. The series has since made it its mission to cast doubt over the little things — and the many ways they can kill us.

This is why "Final Destination" has maintained its cultural stronghold over the past 25 years, despite the last installment coming out nearly a decade and a half ago.

I have a confession to make: even as a horror fan, the Final Destination franchise never fails to unsettle me. There’s something uniquely sinister about how the series plays with your anxiety, each new entry escalating the complexity of its kills. I mean, sure, some deaths would feel more at home in a Looney Tunes skit, but don’t tell me you’re not deathly afraid of trucks carrying logs thanks to Final Destination 2. That scene defined (and scarred) a generation. It’s hard to believe the first Final Destination movie came out 25 years ago. Granted, some of the special effects and the, let’s say, questionable fashion choices certainly date the movie, but James Wong’s saga remains one of the most unique concepts in the horror landscape. The premise of a group of people escaping certain death, only to be cornered into a gruesome demise later by an invisible force,...

BearManor Media has published Escaping Death: The Unauthorized Story Behind the Final Destination Movies in hardcover and paperback.

Written by Padraic Maroney (It All Began with a Scream), the 422-page book chronicles the making of the Final Destination franchise with over 50 exclusive interviews from cast and crew members spanning all six films.

Readers will discover the origin of the innovative franchise, firsthand stories from the sets, never-before-seen behind-the-scenes photos, insight into how some of the series’ biggest set pieces were created, and a tease of the next installment.

Interview subjects include actors Tony Todd, A. J. Cook, Nicholas D’Agosto, Kerr Smith, Amanda Detmer, Emma Bell, and Crystal Lowe; director James Wong; writers Jeffrey Reddick, Glen Morgan, Guy Busick, and Lori Evans Taylor; producers Craig Perry, Sheila Hanahan-Taylor, and Jon Watts; notable fan John Waters; and more.

Escaping Death is a great way to immerse yourself in the Final Destination saga...

Horror is back in a big way this year. Not one but two beloved franchises are releasing follow-up movies that their fandoms had almost given up on. Ahead of this summer’s arrival of Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’sI Know What You Did Last Summer, viewers will get hooked in an entirely different way thanks to the May 16 release of Final Destination: Bloodlines. It's been well over a decade since Final Destination 5 had its cruel run-in with fate back in 2011, and after a lengthy waiting period, the sixth installment is almost here. Today, as part of Collider’s Exclusive Preview event, which will showcase some of the biggest blockbusters set to come out this summer, we have a fresh look at the Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky-helmed film.

Step back into the world first introduced by director James Wong back in 2000’s Final Destination. Anyone who’s seen the...

When it comes to horror movies, a few franchises like Final Destination keep you glued to your seat. It doesn’t rely on masked killers or creepy ghosts—just the unstoppable force of death itself. The series, which kicked off in 2000 under James Wong’s direction, is all about people trying (and failing) to escape their fate. No matter how clever they think they are, death always finds a way.

From the first film to Final Destination 5 in 2011, the franchise has taken audiences on a rollercoaster of brutal, over-the-top accidents. While the concept remained the same—someone has a premonition, cheats death, and then gets hunted down by fate—the movies found new, creative ways to make us squirm. Of course, as the series went on, the formula became predictable, but that didn’t stop fans from enjoying the wild, suspenseful deaths.

A still from the upcoming film Final Destination: Bloodlines...

In an era before Netflix, B-tier action movies used to come out in theaters, rather than being ported straight to streaming. Think "Timecop," "Under Siege," "Kickboxer," or pretty much any other movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal. You could even add some Sylvester Stallone movies like "Cobra" into that mix. By 2001, a lot of the camp style of the late '80s and '90s was fading from the genre, but that didn't stop Jet Li and Jason Statham from adding one more ridiculous, critically panned, but still fun sci-fi actioner.

"The One" is a movie about the multiverse long before that was cool. Directed by frequent "X-Files" scribe James Wong, it follows Li as Gabe Law, a regular police officer on a regular version of Earth. Li also plays Gabriel Yulaw, an evil version of Gabe from another universe. Yulaw was once an agent of the MultiVerse Authority,...

Dragonball Evolution -- the eternally reviled live-action adaptation of Dragon Ball -- has been stuck at the bottom of IMDb's user ranking chart for several years. However, the abysmal rating of a newly-released Disney film has bumped up Evolution to a slightly higher position on the list.

On IMDb, Dragonball Evolution holds an overall rating of 2.5 stars (out of a possible 10) -- just a few points below Baby Geniuses (2.6) and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (2.7). However, Disney's live-action remake of Snow White, which debuted in theaters on March 21, currently sits at a dismal 1.5-star rating on the site. Many reviewers cited the film's poor use of CGi in addition to bland musical numbers as two of its main failings. A significant amount of criticism has also been directed towards Snow White actor Rachel Zegler, who voiced several controversial opinions about Disney's original Snow White film prior to the remake's release.

Death is back with a vengeance, and audiences are clearly ready for it. Final Destination: Bloodlines, the long-awaited sixth instalment in the wildly successful slasher franchise, has made a thunderous return to the cultural conversation, racking up a staggering 178.7 million views across the globe within 24 hours of its trailer launch. That number puts it firmly behind only one title in the horror trailer rankings—It (2017), which remains the reigning champion with nearly 200 million views. For New Line Cinema, which produced both titles, it’s another indicator that their understanding of modern horror trends is razor-sharp.

Releasing the trailer simultaneously across 65 global markets and translated into 44 different languages, Warner Bros. pulled out all the stops to maximise reach—and it worked. Reactions flooded social media almost instantly, with fans praising the return of the franchise’s signature Rube Goldberg-style death sequences and inventively cruel setups. The hashtag #FinalDestinationBloodlines trended across...

Final Destinationdelves deeper into the lore in Bloodlines, revealing how one family evaded Death's design. The trailer teased not only their reckoning but also the franchise's comeback.

It's two for two for New Line Cinema: Final Destination: Bloodlines is the second most-watched horror trailer of all time (per Deadline). It garnered a total of 178.7 million worldwide views (across channels in 65 markets) 24 hours from the Tuesday premiere. It's now second to the It trailer (also produced under New Line), which gained almost 200 million views. That doesn't necessarily predict how Bloodlines will perform at the box office, but it confirms renewed interest in the franchise. The Final Destination series has released five installments to date, earning a total of $666 million worldwide.

The Final Destination: Bloodlines trailer played on the fear of (unassuming) death traps. Leaning heavily on the franchise's core premise, Bloodlines depicted Death's elaborate design, which is a series of...

"Final Destination" isn't the greatest horror franchise in film history (that distinction belongs to George A. Romero's "Dead" movies), but it just might be the most consistently entertaining. It's definitely a property that bucks a lot of the conventional wisdom regarding horror films: The first installment, James Wong's "Final Destination," is easily its weakest, while the fifth chapter is considered by many to be the best of the bunch.

The "Final Destination" franchise may actually be the apotheosis of the slasher genre insofar as such films' primary visceral appeal is the grisly inventiveness of their kills. It's a gore smörgåsbord of Rube Goldberg fatalities carried out by the invisible hand of Death. The movies' formula dictates that any installment must kick off with an extraordinarily complex chain-reaction accident, the survivors of which must scramble to avoid Death's relentless attempts to clear them off the game board. What filmmaker...

Late actor Tony Todd is giving fans his final onscreen role with the highly-anticipated “Final Destination Bloodlines.” Todd played William Bludworth across 25 years of the “Final Destination” franchise; “Bloodlines” is the sixth installment of the beloved horror films.

“Final Destination Bloodlines” stars Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, and Brec Bassinger alongside Todd. While the plot remains just as mysterious as the reason for the predetermined deaths, we do know that the feature will be getting an IMAX release.

Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky co-direct from a screenplay by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor. The story is by Jon Watts (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”), Busick, and Evans Taylor. “Final Destination Bloodlines” is based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick.

The tagline reads: “The newest chapter in New Line Cinema’s bloody successful franchise takes audiences back to the very beginning of Death’s twisted sense of justice.

Few horror franchises have become a part of pop culture like Final Destination. Finding a truck full of logs on an expressway, riding a roller coaster, and even passing through a suspended bridge are synonyms with nightmare-inducing scenes that prove death, as well as life, will always find a way. Throughout five extremely violent and occasionally funny movies, fans were able to witness many creative ways to be killed, and now original director, James Wong, has revealed his favorite kill in the franchise that convinced everyone that tanning beds could actually be deathbeds as well.

Wong spoke to Bloody Disgusting about the legacy of the Final Destination franchise, the inevitability of death, and how a bonkers concept became a successful film: "When Final Destination came out, the critical reaction wasn't over the moon or anything, but it just kept on. Generally, a movie goes out of the top 10 within the first three weeks,...

The Dragon Ball franchise, created by Akira Toriyama might be one of the greatest anime franchises in history and there is no doubt of that. The series was a pillar that helped the anime industry become a global success, and even after so long it continues to inspire fans and other creators with its enticing storyline and brilliantly written characters.

The Dragon Ball Franchise | Credit: Toei Animation

While almost every project by the franchise has been a worldwide success, there is one that the Dragon Ball community refuses to acknowledge as one of their own. This project was none other than the 2009 live-action adaptation of the Dragon Ball story, called Dragonball Evolution by 20th Century Studios which was an incredible failure.

Almost every aspect of the movie was rejected by the Dragon Ball fans and even the former editor of the Dragon Ball manga, Kazuhiko Torishima hated everything about it.

'Final Destination' director James Wong believes the horror series is successful because it is "so visceral and surprising" for audiences.The 43-year-old filmmaker helmed the first 'Final Destination' movie in 2000 and the third flick in 2006, and has now shared his beliefs that the franchise has remained popular because viewers react so strongly to its gory content.Speaking with Bloody Disgusting, Wong recalled: "I went into the theater during the first run, because I love watching a movie with an audience. We suddenly saw a bunch of ushers from the theater walk in in the middle of the movie and just stand by the side. "And I realised it was right before the bus hit. They just wanted to see the audience react."I think they did a whole advertising campaign where they had cameras on an actual audience, and popcorn’s flying and all that stuff.

The Final Destination franchise is thriving with a sixth installment about to release. Director James Wong credits this success to the films' recurring premise, which subverts the trope of the serial antagonist.

Director James Wong recalled Final Destination's reception, 25 years after its theatrical release. He said he sensed even then that the film had the potential to spawn a thriving series. "When Final Destination came out, the critical reaction wasn't over the moon or anything, but it just kept on," he told Bloody Disgusting. "Generally a movie goes out of the top 10 within the first three weeks, and ours just stayed up there for a long time."

The film was massively successful, earning nearly $113 million against its $23 million budget. A sequel was immediately given the green light. Wong directed two out of five films in the series, with a sixth installment releasing this year. Musing over the franchise's success,...

The Final Destination franchise is filled with many memorable death scenes, though there are some that stand out as the most iconic of them all. Among them is the unforgettable bus hit in the first film, and it was thanks to a last-minute editing trick that it worked out so well.

Looking back at the film in honor of its 25th anniversary, director James Wong and co-writer Glen Morgan shared some behind-the-scenes stories about Final Destination in a new interview with Variety. They addressed the famous scene in which Terry (Amanda Detmer) tells the other survivors that they can "drop f***ing dead" just before she's immediately smashed into by a speeding bus. Morgan shared how the scene was actually inspired by a close call he'd witnessed in real life that always stuck with him.

"For the bus hit, I had been one summer to the Hollywood Bowl, and I...

Few characters returned in the Final Destination sequels outside of Tony Todd's William Bludworth, death's harbinger. Director James Wong recalled how the late actor fleshed out the role and elevated the series.

Director James Wong has nothing but praise for the late Tony Todd's performance in the Final Destination movies. "It's not so often that you come upon an actor that elevates and at the same time solidifies your idea of what the character is, and Tony did both of those things," he told Bloody Disgusting. Todd first appeared in the 2000 original as William Bludworth, a coroner who somehow knew what the film's victims were up against. Todd reprised the role in Final Destination2 and 5; he was the voice of the devil in Final Destination 3. He's set to appear posthumously in Final Destination: Bloodlines.

Todd got his headstart in other film genres (in Platoon and Lean on Me) before...

Before “Final Destination,” cheating death never seemed so fun.

Directed by James Wong from a screenplay he wrote with Glen Morgan, based on a story by Jeffrey Reddick, the film came out of nowhere on March 17, 2000, to hit moviegoers like a bus. Based around its characters dying from an intricate but outwardly mundane sequence of events, its premise would quickly become cultural shorthand for dangerous, naturally occurring Rube Goldberg scenarios and spawn a beloved horror franchise whose sixth installment, “Final Destination Bloodlines,” arrives in theaters May 16.

Yet even before “The X-Files” executive producers Wong and Morgan got involved with the project, “Final Destination” would never have existed without the science fiction television show. It was Reddick’s favorite at the time, and he wrote the original story as a spec script for the show to land a TV agent before producer Chris Bender recommended he develop it as a feature.

Audiences learned that cheating death comes at a price when Final Destination opened in theaters 25 years ago today.

“Everybody experiences close calls, and everyone knows that, at some point, they’re going to die. Hopefully you die in a quiet, gentle way, but it happens. You have to understand that it’s going to happen to you,” director/co-writer James Wong tells Bloody Disgusting.

“When Final Destination came out, the critical reaction wasn’t over the moon or anything, but it just kept on. Generally a movie goes out of the top 10 within the first three weeks, and ours just stayed up there for a long time.”

Before spawning a franchise that changed the way we look at seemingly innocuous things like logging trucks and tanning beds, Final Destination began its life an “X-Files” spec script by Jeffrey Reddick that was later rewritten by Wong and his then-partner, Glen Morgan.

Nearly 30 years ago, The X-Files aired an episode so controversial that it not only became infamous for its disturbing content but also left a permanent scar on a generation of viewers. Premiering in 1993, the series became a cultural phenomenon, offering viewers a chance to explore the unexplained alongside FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. From monsters to aliens the show has delved all.

The X-Files | Image via Fox

However, one episode stood out for being more disturbing than ever. What made it so disturbing its that it pushed all the boundaries of what was acceptable for primetime TV. Today, it is still considered the most disturbing episode of The X-Files, earning the title of “banned” from reruns for years.

The X-Files episode, Home, still haunts many people of the generation even after 30 years

First broadcast on October 11, 1996, The X-Files episode, Home told a chilling tale that left viewers traumatized.

The universe can be a pretty crummy place sometimes, so it's important to seek out every last nugget of joy or, absent something so extravagant, just a smile here and there to ward off total despair. You could argue that we don't even deserve the latter in extraordinarily crummy times such as these, and maybe this is true, but I like getting out of bed in the morning, so I'll afford myself the privilege of hope however it materializes. Did the Cleveland Cavaliers win last night? That's one foot on the floor. Did I text with some out-of-town friends I haven't personally seen in months or years? There's another. Did John Carpenter just win a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association? Oh baby, we're up and headed for that first cup.

The New Hollywood era produced more commercially successful and critically acclaimed filmmakers than the man who gave us "Halloween,...

This article contains spoilers for "The Monkey."

Although it's still possible to get into the weeds when discussing auteur theory, it's generally become accepted that directors, especially if they're also acting as their own screenwriters, have a large degree of creative control over their films. As such, it's possible to find common threads that connect a certain filmmaker's work, whether those threads are thematic, stylistic, or some combination of the two. For example, think of the Stanley "Kubrick stare," the Spike Lee floating dolly shot, Alfred Hitchcock and voyeurism, Steven Spielberg and father figures, and so on. Some directors may seem easier to clock than others, of course, especially if they exclusively or generally work within a particular genre. Yet even those who remain in one genre can contain as much artistic diversity as those who attack a wide range of subject matter.

Take, for instance, Osgood Perkins. As a filmmaker,...

The hit series 9-1-1: Lone Star recently came to an end, but the franchise will be moving forward with another spinoff series to fill the empty void that's created. This time, the show will be focusing on emergency responders working in Tennessee.

Per Deadline, it's been revealed that a new show, 9-1-1: Nashville, is coming to ABC for the 2025-26 season. It was previously reported that a new 9-1-1 offshoot was in development, though details weren't confirmed about its location. Currently, no information is known about the plot of the new series beyond its setting in Nashville, and no cast members have been announced. It can be presumed that a team of first responders will be at the heart of the story.

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9-1-1: Lone Star's Captain Owen Strand took a life-threatening hit in the nuclear series finale,...

Say what you want about Ryan Murphy, but he always seems to be thinking about the best way to make his television empire thrive. Before today, there was no indication that his popular procedural series 9-1-1 and his newest endeavor, Doctor Odyssey, shared a universe, but that's all set to change as the worlds of his two ABC series are about to collide.

Per Variety, 9-1-1 and Doctor Odyssey will cross over in a special episode of the latter that will see Angela Bassett's character, Athena Grant from 9-1-1, head over to the cruise ship on Doctor Odyssey led by Joshua Jackson's Dr. Max Bankman. Doctor Odyssey focuses on a different themed cruise in each episode, and this particular crossover event will take place during Casino Week on the ship, which will see Bassett's Athena suspecting two passengers of trying to Ocean's 11 the ship's vault.

In an alternate universe, there is a sitting U.S. President who is a complete badass, willing to put their own life on the line to save their country and family. That may not be even close to our reality, but the brand-new trailer for Prime Video's upcoming action flick G20 gives audiences what they never knew they wanted, but just might need — Viola Davis as an ass-kicking President of the United States. When terrorists hijack a summit filled with the world's leaders, it's up to the Academy-Award-winning actress to step up and take charge.

Prime Video released the first trailer for G20 on Wednesday morning, revealing The Suicide Squad star Viola Davis as a U.S. President with military training forced to take matters into her own hands when the world and her family are at stake. Her primary adversary this time round is acclaimed The Boys star Antony Starr,...

With 11 seasons, two movies, and a plethora of spin-off material, there's no denying that The X-Files is a hit. Not only did it transform the modern sci-fi genre, but it also altered how fans see romance arcs as well as female characters. Even after three decades, fans still adore Mulder and Scully.

But with so much content on offer, it makes sense that not every episode will be as successful as others. However, the show is known for being a tad experimental at times, producing a wealth of strange arcs and plot twists. As such, even though fans love this show, there are some episodes that fans find too awful to rewatch.

A Set of Doppelgängers Wreak Havoc Together Season 7, Episode 20, "Fight Club"

It's very rare for an episode to receive mostly negative reviews, but "Fight Club" somehow managed it. The story starts out in Kansas, where two seemingly identical...

It's been nothing but good news for Final Destination fans lately. Not only has the long-awaited sequel, Final Destination: Bloodlines, been in the news this week thanks to the recently released teaser that has everyone pumped, but to top it all off, the entire series was recently added to streaming, and has been dominating the Top 10 charts ever since.

Per Max, the Final Destination franchise has taken over its Top 10 movie chart at the time of this writing, with the original 2000 classic sitting at #4, Final Destination 2 at #6, Final Destination 3 at #9, and Final Destination 5 at #10. Absent is 2009's The Final Destination (a.k.a. Final Destination 4), but we're sure that it'll eventually make its way there as the week progresses. It's no surprise, really, as after 14 years of radio silence, horror fans are eager to either watch the series for the first time, or just indulge in...

Quick LinksDragonball: Evolution Is Considered To Be One of the Worst Anime Adaptations and Worst Movies Of All TimeWhat Was Akira Toriyama's Reaction to Dragonball: Evolution?Dragonball Evolution Inspired Akira Toriyama To Return to the Anime

For many Westerners, Dragon Ball was the very first introduction to all the wonder that anime had to offer. It's a franchise that remains incredibly popular and dear to people's hearts, and the impact it's had on pop culture is undeniable. Because of this, in the mid-2000s, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood came knocking at the door to produce a live-action film. The first and so far only attempt to bring the Dragon Ball franchise to the realm of live-action, Dragonball Evolution, has not only garnered a reputation as one of the worst anime adaptations ever made but as one of the worst films ever made in general.

The Final Destination franchise is breathing new life with a teaser trailer for the first movie in the horror series in 14 years.

Warner Bros. released the initial promo for Final Destination Bloodlines, set to hit theaters and IMAX on May 16. Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein directed the sixth film in the New Line franchise that was last seen on the big screen with Final Destination 5, which premiered back in August 2011.

Final Destination Bloodlines centers on Stefanie (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) aiming to track down the sole person who can potentially stop the cycle that has inevitably led her family members to untimely deaths. Rounding out the cast are Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Rya Kihlstedt, Anna Lore, Brec Bassinger and the late Tony Todd.

“My old man just died, I come in as a favor, and now they want me to lock up,” a tattoo artist (Harmon) gripes...

Death is coming to collect, and it doesn't like to be cheated. For the sixth time, this concept will be explored in an all-new Final Destination movie.

This year will see the release of the upcoming sequel Final Destination: Bloodlines. Online, an X account launched for the film shared the first teaser, revealing ominous footage from the upcoming movie. The brief video, spanning just ten seconds long, focuses on a ceiling fan moving in slow motion. There's a good chance that this is happening in the moments leading up to some kind of freak accident, though fans will have to wait to see exactly how that happens when the movie is released in May. The clip can be seen below.

This one’s for the fans. â˜ ï¸ Dying to show you more. #FinalDestinationpic.twitter.com/Rv9a0F57xB— Final Destination Bloodlines (@FDMovie) February 2, 2025

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on the trend of exploring an ambitious concept in its movies with the “Multiverse.” It started in some of the original comic stories, but now it’s really been used to capitalize on a bevy of crowd-pleasing moments. Other movies, such as Everything Everywhere All at Once, also use the multiverse to explore the different branches of life created by a single act. Even properties like Mortal Kombat are getting in on the game. While the “parallel universe” plot device has been used in many sci-fi stories in the past, back in 2001, a little action movie attempted to introduce the idea of the “multiverse” to a mainstream movie audience. Today, we take a look at Jet Li’s The One and see how it holds up with its own take on the concept.

Ok, so let me start this off by being real. The One...