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Final Destination Bloodlines

2025 American supernatural horror film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Final Destination Bloodlines
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Final Destination Bloodlines is a 2025 American supernatural horror film directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein from a screenplay by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, based on a story by Jon Watts, Busick, and Evans Taylor. It is the sixth installment in the Final Destination film series, following Final Destination 5 (2011), and stars Kaitlyn Santa Juana as college student Stefani, who inherits visions of a previous premonition that averted a deadly structural failure of a skyscraper in 1969 from her dying grandmother and is warned by her that Death is coming for their family. Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Brec Bassinger, and Tony Todd appear in supporting roles.

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After the commercial success of the previous film, a new film entered development, described as a "re-imagining" of the franchise. In March 2020, series producer Craig Perry said the film would be set "in the world of first responders" and in October that year, series creator Jeffrey Reddick confirmed it was the sixth film in the franchise. In January 2022, the film was planned to be released on the streaming service HBO Max, with Lipovsky and Stein as directors and Busick joining Taylor as co-writer for the film. In March 2024, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that the film would instead receive a theatrical release. Filming took place in Vancouver from March to May 2024, following delays due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Final Destination Bloodlines was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on May 16, 2025. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $287.2 million worldwide, becoming both the best-reviewed and highest-grossing installment in the franchise. In August 2025, it was announced a sequel was in development, with Taylor writing the script.

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Plot

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In 1969, Iris Campbell and her boyfriend Paul attend the grand opening of the Sky View, a high-rise restaurant tower. Iris has a premonition of a chain of events that causes the tower to collapse, killing everyone inside. Iris warns the tower's attendees and prevents the collapse, but in doing so disrupts Death's design.

Fifty-five years later, Iris and Paul's maternal granddaughter, college student Stefani Reyes is plagued by recurring nightmares of the averted accident and returns home seeking answers about it. Stefani is greeted by her father Marty and younger brother Charlie. The siblings visit their uncle Howard, aunt Brenda and cousins Erik, Julia and Bobby. When Stefani asks Howard about Iris, he explains that he and Stefani's mother Darlene were subjected to an overprotective and isolated upbringing, resulting in the family's dysfunctions and Darlene's absence. Brenda helps Stefani find letters from Iris, which leads to a fortified cabin where Iris now resides terminally ill with cancer.

Iris tells her story of the Sky View and explains that since she prevented the collapse, Death began taking the lives of the survivors in the order they should have died, along with their respective descendants. After Paul's death, Iris documented Death's actions in a book to keep her family safe. Stefani fears her grandmother is insane and tries to leave, but Iris follows her outside to give her the book and allow herself to be impaled by a weather vane to prove her claims.

At Iris's funeral, Darlene returns, but Stefani resents her for being absent since childhood. Stefani reads Iris's book and sees a reference to "JB", who found someone who defeated Death. During a family barbecue, a chain of events gets Howard killed by his lawnmower in front of the entire family. After Howard's funeral, Stefani tries to warn the family that Death is coming for them, but they are hesitant to believe her. Another series of events causes a fire at Erik's tattoo shop, but his leather clothing protects him before he escapes. Stefani and Charlie meet Erik the following day and try to protect him as he is next in line, but Julia is crushed to death by a garbage truck's compactor instead. The family is confused why Julia died while Erik was spared; Brenda reveals that he was the product of an affair and not part of Iris's bloodline, hence not on Death's list.

Darlene suggests tracking down "JB", who turns out to be William Bludworth. Present at the Sky View as a child with his mother and the last to die in the premonition, he reveals that Iris tracked him down in the years since the accident and they tried to learn Death's rules together. He explains to the family that there are only two ways to defeat Death: taking another life[b] or being clinically dead and resuscitated, citing Kimberly Corman as a successful example.[c] Bludworth leaves, expecting to succumb to his own cancer after Iris's bloodline dies, and wishes the family luck before departing.

Erik convinces Bobby to employ Bludworth's second strategy, giving Bobby a snack containing nuts to trigger a fatal allergic reaction and be subsequently revived. The plan backfires when a malfunctioning MRI machine rips out Erik's piercings, pulls him in, and impales and crushes him with a wheelchair[d] before launching a coil from a vending machine into Bobby's head. Stefani, Charlie and Darlene decide to drive to Iris' cabin, intending to hide Darlene from Death. They crash through the front gate, and Stefani's seatbelt jams. The cabin is compromised and explodes, sending the RV into water where Stefani begins to drown. Darlene saves Charlie before being bisected by a lamp post, and Charlie rescues and resuscitates Stefani.

One week later, the siblings learn from the doctor father of Charlie's prom date that Stefani was not clinically dead after drowning because she was resuscitated before undergoing cardiac arrest, and thus her heart never stopped. Shortly after, a timber-carrying freight train derails nearby, and its cargo fatally crushes the siblings.

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Cast

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Further information on individual characters: List of Final Destination characters
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Kaitlyn Santa Juana plays Stefani Reyes while Brec Bassinger plays Iris Campbell, her grandmother and the film's visionary.

Yvette Ferguson, Mark Brandon, Natasha Burnett, Travis Turner, Bernard Cuffling, Megan Hui and Noah Bromley appear as survivors of the Sky View tower collapse.[9][8]

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Production

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Filmmaker Jon Watts produced and conceived the story for the sixth installment, and chose directing duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein to helm the film from over 200 candidates.

Before the release of Final Destination 5 in 2011, Final Destination series actor Tony Todd said that if the film were to be successful, two sequels would be filmed back-to-back.[10] In January 2019, New Line Cinema announced a new installment was in development.[11] Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan wrote the initial script, described as a "re-imagining" of the franchise;[11] they ultimately received off-screen credits for additional literary material.[12] In March 2020, series producer Craig Perry said the film would be set "in the world of first responders" and feature EMTs, firefighters, and police officers. When asked if it was in the same canon as the previous installments, he said, "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".[13][14]

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Tony Todd reprised his role as William Bludworth before his death in 2024.

In October 2021, Lori Evans Taylor was reported to be the new writer for the film.[15] In January 2022, HBO Max announced it would distribute the film, Jon Watts joined the project as a producer, and Taylor was confirmed to have written the screenplay alongside Guy Busick.[16] That July, Reddick revealed the film would differ from the franchise's formula.[17] In September that year, Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein were selected from over two hundred candidates to direct the film. During a meeting with executives and producers from New Line to make their pitch, Lipovsky and Stein staged a freak accident like the ones in the films at the end of the call; insiders said the joke, which featured a combination of prerecorded footage and visual effects and demonstrated the filmmakers' passion for the film, got them hired.[18]

In September 2023, Todd officially signed on to reprise his role as William Bludworth. The film explores the character's backstory.[19] Despite Todd's death in November 2024, Warner Bros. confirmed that he had shot all of his scenes for the film.[20]

In March 2024, it was announced that the film would be released in theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures in 2025.[21] Most of the cast was also revealed.[22] Seventy-one-year-old stuntwoman Yvette Ferguson came out of retirement for a fire stunt in the premonition scene, which director Lipovsky believes to be a world record for the oldest person set on fire on camera.[9] While developing the production design of the film, the directors came upon the idea of circles as a motif representing Death's ubiquity, beginning with the circular architecture of the Sky View that is undone by a single penny.[23][24]

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The opening disaster featuring the Sky View Tower collapse in Cloverdale, New York, used the Museum of Vancouver – located in Vancouver, British Columbia – as the tower's base.

Principal photography was scheduled to take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, from July to October 2023,[25] but in mid-July, production was delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.[26] With Christian Sebaldt as cinematographer, filming instead took place in Vancouver from March 4 to May 13, 2024.[21][27] Tim Wynn was hired to compose the score by December 2024.[28]

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Music

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Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Final Destination Bloodlines was released by Lakeshore Records on the same day as the film's release. The soundtrack contains 32 tracks composed by Tim Wynn. It is the third Final Destination soundtrack album to be released.

Quick facts Final Destination Bloodlines (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Film score by Tim Wynn ...

Commercial songs from the film, but not on the soundtrack[29]

Score

The album contains 33 cues composed by Tim Wynn.[30]

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Release

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Final Destination Bloodlines was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on May 16, 2025, and it was released internationally two days prior to its official U.S. release.[21][31] The movie was filmed for IMAX and was released in both IMAX and standard formats.[32] A double-bill special screening was shown in select theaters on May 9 and 10, a week before the film's release, which included the original 2000 film.[33] A prank screening was held on Mother's Day, with the film being retitled to Love at the Sky View; filmgoers watched the film with their mothers, who were under the assumption it was a romantic comedy.[34][35]

The film's trailer was released on March 25, 2025, across 65 markets and was available in 44 different language versions. As calculated by WaveMetrix, it garnered 178.7 million views worldwide within the first 24 hours, making it the second most-watched horror film trailer.[36]

On May 19, 2025, the ceiling of the movie theater Cinema Ocho in La Plata, Argentina, collapsed while screening the film, injuring one moviegoer. No deaths were reported.[37]

Home media

On June 17, 2025, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced that the film had been made available on digital platforms, which was only a month after its theatrical debut in the United States. The film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 22, 2025.[38] The film became available to stream exclusively on HBO Max starting August 1, 2025.[39]

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Reception

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Box office

Final Destination Bloodlines grossed $138.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $149.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $287.2 million.[3][4]

In the United States and Canada, Bloodlines was released alongside Hurry Up Tomorrow and was projected to gross $35–40 million from 3,523 theaters in its opening weekend.[40] The film made $21 million on its first day, including an estimated $5.5 million from Thursday night previews.[41][42] It went on to debut to $51.6 million, finishing first at the box office.[43] Its opening weekend was the biggest for the franchise, even adjusted for inflation,[44] besting The Final Destination.[45][42] The film made $19.3 million in its second weekend (a 63% drop) and $10.8 million in its third, finishing in third and fourth place, respectively.[46][47]

In the Philippines, a market where the horror genre is widely popular,[48][49][50] Final Destination Bloodlines had the second-highest-grossing opening weekend of all time for a horror film after Insidious: The Red Door[51][52] and broke the records for the highest-grossing opening weekend of 2025,[51][53] the highest-grossing opening weekend for an R-16 film,[51] and the highest-grossing horror film of all time.[54]

Critical response

The film became the best-reviewed installment in the franchise.[55] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 230 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Adding some surprising emotional layers onto the ghoulish bones of Final Destination's mythology, Bloodlines ingeniously executes grisly set pieces with precision and turns impending doom into outrageous fun."[56] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[57] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B+ on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average four out of five stars, with 69% saying they would definitely recommend the film.[42]

Todd Gilchrist of Variety called the film "clever, unpredictable and fun" and praised Todd's performance as "a tender tribute to the horror luminary and retroactive connective tissue between the franchise's disparate chapters".[58] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film "gives its audiences exactly what they expect. Namely, a series of ingeniously designed, diabolical Rube Goldberg-style fatalities that are mostly so within the realm of possibility that you'll find yourself crossing the street very carefully after you leave the theater". He also praised Todd's appearance as "a poignant reminder that in real life, as in these movies, death comes for everybody".[59]

Accolades

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Sequel

Stein noted that the narrative potential remains open-ended, stating: "Death's work is never done. There are always more scores to settle."[62] He acknowledged, though, that the creative process takes several years.[63] Perry also expressed openness to continuing the franchise, noting that Bloodlines has expanded the creative flexibility of the series.[64]

On August 8, 2025, it was announced that a seventh film in the franchise was in the works, with Taylor returning to write the script.[65]

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Notes

  1. Original themes by Shirley Walker
  2. As depicted in Final Destination 5 (2011)
  3. As depicted in Final Destination 2 (2003)
  4. Though Erik was not originally on the list, due to his attempted intervention to prevent Bobby's death, Death targeted him as a result.

References

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