There are countless ways to destroy the human body and Warner/New Line are looking to explore quite a few more of them in their bafflingly successful Final Destination series. We already have number five, likely to be called
5nal Destination (which always looks inappropriately spelled to me!) on the way later this year and if horror veteran
Tony Todd is to be believed, we will be seeing 6 and 7, more than likely shot back to back, soon after that. Horror stalwart Todd, veteran of the series who makes his first appearance since number 2, says
in an interview with Dread Central;
"Thumbs up! Thumbs way up. They expanded my part, and the producer told me as we were leaving Vancouver that if it opens at Number 1 which statistically it has theyre going to shoot the next two simultaneously."
Rather like the Elm St series, whose first four movies were each more successful than the last, the franchise seems to be going from strength to strength, due in large part to the last installment's 3D ticket sales which amounted to $186 million worldwide. The series it seems is so successful simply because it knows exactly what it's audience wants and gives it to them, in the most inventive ways it can. Number five follows the same pattern as the last, with death this time stalking the survivors of a suspension bridge collapse. Here's an early still from the film - positively terrifying!
So will the fifth installment match the last film's 3D bounce to keep the series on the up and up? In my view, it's a done deal. These films are nothing if not big opening weekend pictures for youngsters eager to watch the bodies break and the flesh tear. The series seems to have legs, unlike some of the franchises victims. 5nal Destination opens across the world on August 26th, made cheaply, and will bring in a bucket load of returns. It's a simple formula for New Line.