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While we pray to the horror gods for a new A Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th, we’re already in the midst of a franchise renaissance with Halloween, and the forthcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Scream.

One franchise that’s not talked about enough is that of Final Destination, which New Line Cinema released back in 2000. In the film starring Devon Sawa, after a teenager has a terrifying vision of him and his friends dying in a plane crash, he prevents the accident only to have Death hunt them down, one by one.

Some good, some bad, and some out-of-this-world fantastic, there have been several follow-ups that have led us into the age of “remakes”. We broke the news last January that Final Destination was being retooled with Saw sequel writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan set to pen the script.

However, a new interview with franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick and producer Craig Perry reveals that it’s actually canon and takes place within the Final Destination universe.

“I think ‘reboot’ is probably too strong of a word, it makes it sound like they’re going to change everything, but it’s definitely a Final Destination movie,” Reddick told DigitalSpy with Bloody Disgusting confirming the film remains wholly canonized.

“Craig is the master of coming up with crazy openings and set pieces,” he adds. “He’s told me a couple of things that happen in this one and it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s not going feel like cash-grab Final Destination film.”

In fact, Perry teased that the sequel will take place in the world of first responders!

“We’re toying with having it take place in the world of first responders: EMTs, firemen and police,” Perry reveals.

“These people deal with death on the front lines every day, and make choices that can cause people to live or die.”

Watch this spot for further updates as they come in.

As THR previously notes, screenwriters Melton and Dunstan are horror vets best known for penning four of the Saw movies. They were winners on season three of Project Greenlight and also wrote The Collector, The Collection and Piranha 3DD. They penned Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark for CBS Films and are working with horror producers Platinum Dunes on an untitled Christmas horror project set up at Sony and The Reckoning at Paramount.

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It’s been quite a while now since we’ve heard a peep about the Final Destination franchise, with the most recent reports from last year indicating that a new installment in the franchise is in development. Last we heard, the series is being retooled with a brand new movie, with Saw sequel writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan set to pen the script.

Last we heard, the movie was going to be set within the world of the existing Final Destination movies and center on first responders, but again, that was back in November of last year.

Franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick tweeted in November 2020, “They were developing another Final Destination until Covid hit. They’ll pick it back up once the business starts back up.”

We don’t have much new to relay about the project this week but it’s interesting to note that Deadline reports in an article about an upcoming thriller titled Bed Rest that the writer-director of that movie, Lori Evans Taylor, is currently writing “Final Destination 6.” This is interesting because it seems to suggest that Melton and Dunstan are now off the project.

Deadline reports, “Taylor is currently writing Final Destination 6. Other recent writing credits include I Am Still Alive, starring and produced by Ben Affleck, the 21 Laps-produced I-5, and Small Price To Pay. She has previously produced stories for such television shows as Lucky Dog, Welcome Home, and others.”

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Jon Watts is courting death and hoping to get away with it.

The director behind the record-breaking Spider-Man: No Way Home, has joined the creative team behind New Line’s relaunch of its Grand Guignol horror franchise, Final Destination.

Watts has boarded the project, titled simply Final Destination 6, as a producer and wrote the treatment and story for what will be an HBO Max original release. Lori Evans Taylor (Bed Rest) and Guy Busick, who wrote Ready or Not and worked on the upcoming Scream reboot, are now writing the screenplay.

The director is joining a producing team that includes Destination franchise producer and steward Craig Perry, and franchise veteran Sheila Hanahan Taylor. Dianne McGunigle, Watts’ wife and manager, is also joining the producing team.

Destination was a surprise hit franchise for New Line in the early 2000s, with a concept that proved easy to transfer from movie to movie, locale to locale, victim to unwitting victim. Each movie centered on a character who has a premonition of a horrific and deadly event, cheats his or her own death and saves several other lives in the process, only to have Death, as a personified but unstoppable force, come for the survivors one by one.

The first movie was directed by James Wong and starred Devon Sawa and Ali Larter, making $112 million worldwide on only a $23 million budget. Four more installments followed through 2011, earning almost 700 million worldwide to date. It is New Line’s third-biggest horror franchise, coming in behind the $2 billion-plus generated by The Conjuring universe of movies and $1 billion-plus by the two It movies.

The company has attempted to restart the franchise previously, and in 2019 hired Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, who wrote four Saw movies, to pen a script.

Watts is known for helming the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man movies for Sony and Marvel, with the latest, No Way Home, released Dec. 13, defying pandemic gravity to become the sixth-highest film domestically and eight-highest grossing film of all time worldwide at over $1.53 billion and counting. No Way Home became the second-highest domestic opening in history and passed $1 billion worldwide in just over a week.

Watts is repped by CAA and Johnson Shapiro. Taylor is repped by ICM Partners, Kaplan/Perrone and McKuin Frankel while Busick is repped by A3 Artists Agency, Gotham Group and Jackoway Austen.

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Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, the filmmaking team known for their 2018 sci-fi thriller Freaks, have nabbed the coveted gig of directing Final Destination 6, the relaunch of the New Line’s Grand Guignol horror franchise.

Craig Perry, the original franchise producer, is producing with Sheila Hanahan Taylor. Jon Watts, the director behind the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, is also producing alongside Dianne McGunigle (FX’s Atlanta).

Watts also wrote the treatment for the relaunch. Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, whose credits include Ready or Not and the relaunched Scream franchise, are writing the script. The previous Final Destination movie was released over 10 years ago, in 2011.

Plot details are being kept under lock and key, but the core concept remains: A character has a premonition of a horrific and deadly event, cheats his or her own death, and saves several other lives in the process, only to have Death, as a personified but unstoppable force, come for the survivors one by one.

Finding a new director took up a good portion of the year, with over two hundred candidates submitted by agencies and management firms. “It was rare that something this big was available and ready for a reboot,” said one insider.

Lipovsky and Stein rose to the top thanks to their ideas and passion for the Final Destination brand. According to sources, the duo were already in line to get the gig when one final Zoom pitch meeting became what some in Hollywood called the Zoom call to end all Zoom calls.

The duo made their pitch to New Line execs and producers together, with a burning fireplace behind them. As they wrapped up the meeting, the fire came alive and the mantel began burning. The filmmakers stopped and, after a tense moment, quickly extinguished the flames. As they sat down, everyone relieved the accident had passed, a wrenching creak was heard and suddenly, the whizzing ceiling fan broke off and flew down, decapitating one of the filmmakers.

The execs and producers went from concern to all-out laughter. The bit, using a combination of prerecorded footage and visual effects, had transitioned seamlessly and showed their unabashed enthusiasm. It was, to all involved, the cherry on top.

The first Final Destination was directed by James Wong and starred Devon Sawa and Ali Larter. It made $112 million worldwide on a $23 million budget. Four more installments followed through 2011, earning almost $700 million globally to date, with directors including David R. Ellis and Steven Quale at the helm. It is New Line’s third-biggest horror franchise, coming in behind the $2 billion-plus generated by The Conjuring universe of movies and $1 billion-plus by the two It movies.

Known to their crews as “Zadam,” Lipovsky and Stein made a splash with their feature film debut Freaks, which was one of the biggest sales at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018 and went on to top Netflix’s Top 10 list. The movie starred Emile Hirsch and Bruce Dern. They are also Emmy-nominated TV directors, whose most recent work includes Fraggle Rock for Apple. The duo have a slate of projects around town, including rock-climbing thriller Deadpoint with Spyglass.

Lipovsky and Stein are repped by Verve and Ground Control Entertainment.

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Sources tell Bloody Disgusting that Tony Todd has signed on to reprise his role as William Bludworth in the upcoming sixth installment in the Final Destination franchise.

The horror icon played the enigmatic mortician in Final Destination, Final Destination 2, and Final Destination 5.

The plot reportedly centers on first responders. We’re told that the film digs into Bludworth’s backstory, including a flashback to his childhood that reveals more about his connection to death.

This may be what franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick was referring to in his recent comments that Final Destination 6 “unearths a whole deep layer to the story.”

Production is set to take place in Vancouver after the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved. Zach Lipovsky & Adam B. Stein (Freaks) will direct from a script by Guy Busick (Scream, Scream VI) and Lori Evans Taylor (Bed Rest). Filmmaker Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) produces.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

Stay tuned for more on Final Destination 6 as we learn it.

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