'Final Destination: Bloodlines' Slays Box Office With $102M Worldwide Debut
Generational nostalgia and a simple “Pretty People Get Rube Goldberg-ed To Death” concept for newbies made the long-dormant horror series a franchise ripe for revival.
Warner Bros. Discovery and New Line Cinema’s Final Destination: Bloodlines opened with a smashing $51 million domestic weekend, nearly doubling the $27.4 million debut of 2009’s The Final Destination. It earned more in its first weekend than the unadjusted lifetime domestic totals of the franchise’s two best sequels, Final Destination 2 ($47 million in 2003) and Final Destination 5 ($43 million in 2011). Pending final weekend grosses, it’s a day or two away from Final Destination ($53 million in 2000) and Final Destination 3 ($54 million in 2006). It might have to wait another few days to pass The Final Destination ($66 million in 2009, despite being the worst film in the series, partially thanks to a pre-Avatar 3-D boost). Even noting inflation-adjusted totals ($111 million, $87 million, $93 million, $101 million and $60 million, respectively), this relaunch basically “break out sequel”-ed past a five-film franchise.
Noting the 14-year gap between the unexpectedly terrific Final Destination 5 (which, like Saw VI, suffered for the sins of its terrible predecessor) and Bloodlines, this might be closer to what we saw with Spyglass and Paramount’s Scream. The strong showing for Scream in 2022 suggested A) Paramount successfully pitched the legacy sequel to the unconverted, and B) it was a breakout sequel for the generation that… (indefensably, Emma Roberts’s third-act monologue notwithstanding) liked Scream 4. Likewise, Final Destination 5 has a righteous reputation, not just because of its clever epilogue. In this case, the kids are correct and thus A) alright and B) our future. Among other variables, 14 years of “Hey, Final Destination 5 was excellent, actually” made this installment more viable than if the series had stopped on the “less entertaining than staring at a blank screen for 90 minutes” The Final Destination.