Final Destination Bloodlines

In 1969, Iris Campbell goes with her boyfriend Paul to the opening night of the Sky View, a restaurant at the top of an observation tower. Paul plans to propose. A bartender's cork cracks a chandelier and a falling shard cracks the glass dance floor. Up on the observation deck, a boy keeps tossing pennies over the side. Iris has a vision. A penny blows into a vent and jams a fan, and a broken fan blade punctures a gas line. The dance floor shatters and dancers fall to the ground, and Paul falls through and is killed. A burning guest ignites the leaking gas and a fireball sweeps the room. The stairwell collapses, the overloaded elevator drops, the tower tilts, and Iris dies along with everyone else, including a little boy whose mother dies in the fire. Iris wakes up and gets people off the glass floor in time. The tower never falls.

Fifty-five years later, Iris's granddaughter Stefani Reyes is a college student who keeps having nightmares about that night. She goes home looking for answers and is met by her father Marty and younger brother Charlie. They visit their uncle Howard, aunt Brenda and cousins Erik, Julia and Bobby. Howard tells her Iris raised him and Stefani's mother Darlene in a paranoid, locked-down house until the family broke apart. Darlene later walked out on her own kids. Brenda helps Stefani find letters from Iris, which lead her to a fortified cabin in the woods.

Iris, now dying of cancer, explains that she saved everyone at the Sky View and Death has been working through the survivors ever since, along with every child and grandchild they had. Those people were never supposed to exist. Paul died in an accident. Iris kept a notebook tracking Death's warning signs. Stefani thinks she is crazy and leaves. Iris follows her outside, hands over the notebook, and lets a chain of events drop a weather vane that impales her, to prove she was right.

Darlene shows up at Iris's funeral, and Stefani is still angry at her. In the notebook Stefani finds references to someone called JB, who knew of a person who beat Death. At a family barbecue a chain of small accidents plays out, and Howard steps on glass and falls face first into a lawnmower in front of everyone. After Howard's funeral Stefani warns the family, and most of them do not believe her. That night a chain reaction sets Erik's tattoo shop on fire and hangs him by his nose ring, but his leather jacket keeps him alive.

Stefani and Charlie decide Erik is next and try to protect him. Instead, Julia is knocked into a trash bin, dumped into a garbage truck and crushed in its compactor. Brenda admits Erik came from an affair and is not Iris's blood, which is why he was skipped. The family now understands Death is going down the bloodline by age, and non-blood relatives like Marty and Brenda are safe.

Darlene figures out that JB is William Bludworth. He was the boy at the Sky View whose mother died in Iris's vision, and he was supposed to be the last to die. He tells them Iris found him years later and they studied Death's rules together. There are two ways out: kill someone and take their remaining life, or die and be brought back, the way Kimberly Corman was. Bludworth, dying of cancer himself, says goodbye and walks out.

Erik talks Bobby into the second option. At the hospital, Erik gives Bobby a snack with nuts so his allergy will kill him, then plans to wheel him to the emergency room to be revived. An MRI machine malfunctions, tears out Erik's piercings, pulls him in and crushes him with a wheelchair. Because Erik stepped in to change the order, Death takes him too. A spring coil from a vending machine is then launched into Bobby's head.

Stefani, Charlie and Darlene drive Darlene's RV to Iris's cabin to hide her. They crash through the gate and Stefani's seatbelt jams. A chain reaction blows up the cabin and sends the RV into the water. Darlene gets Charlie out and sends him back for Stefani, then a falling lamp post cuts her in half. Charlie frees Stefani and brings her back with CPR. They believe she has died and come back, and that they are free.

A week later, on Charlie's prom night, his date's father, a doctor, tells them Stefani was never clinically dead because she was revived before her heart stopped. Moments later a freight train carrying logs derails into the neighborhood, and the logs crush Stefani and Charlie.

Story notes

• College student Stefanie is plagued by a recurring nightmare tied to a catastrophe survived decades earlier by her grandmother.
• She returns home to uncover the connection and tries to protect her family from Death's design.

Release facts

• Released: 2025-05-16 (international rollout began earlier; Box Office Mojo lists Russia/CIS on May 7, 2025)
• Rated: R (for strong violent/grisly accidents, and language)

Warner Bros. released it May 16, 2025 in IMAX and standard theaters after an international rollout. A double feature with the original 2000 film played in select theaters May 9 and 10. On Mother's Day there was a prank screening under the fake title Love at the Sky View for moms who thought they were seeing a romantic comedy. The trailer came out March 25, 2025 in 65 markets and 44 language versions and drew 178.7 million views in its first 24 hours by WaveMetrix's count, the second most for a horror trailer.

It opened at number one with $51.6 million from 3,523 theaters, including $5.5 million from Thursday previews. That is the best opening in the series even after inflation. It fell 63 percent to $19.3 million in its second weekend. It made $138,254,739 domestic and about $179.6 million overseas, $317,854,739 worldwide, the most of any film in the series. The UK brought in $15.3 million and Mexico $14.0 million. Variety estimated a theatrical profit of about $75 million.

In the Philippines it had the second-biggest horror opening ever, the biggest opening weekend of 2025, and became the highest-grossing horror film of all time there. Its Philippine opening day record for horror held until The Conjuring: Last Rites in September. Google said it was the most searched film in the Philippines in 2025. On May 19, 2025, part of the ceiling fell in at Cinema Ocho in La Plata, Argentina during a showing, injuring one person.

It is the best-reviewed film in the series. Rotten Tomatoes has 92% from 233 reviews, average 7.2 out of 10. Metacritic gives it 73 from 35 critics. CinemaScore audiences gave it a B-plus and PostTrak viewers four out of five stars. Variety's Todd Gilchrist called it clever, unpredictable and fun. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter called Todd's appearance a poignant reminder that death comes for everybody.

Awards: Lipovsky and Stein won Best Direction in a Feature Film from the Directors Guild of Canada (November 8, 2025). Nominated for Best Horror at the Astra Midseason Movie Awards, Best Wide Release at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, Best Horror or Thriller Feature at the Astra Film Awards, and Best Horror Film at the 53rd Saturn Awards.

Press and marketing

• Official Warner/New Line social toolkit: main key art, alternate art, teaser art, four Moments-art designs, five approved high-resolution photos, official/teaser trailers, GIFs and stickers.
• Warner Bros. international online marketing archive includes teaser-art, main-art and alternate-art advertising units and campaign assets.

Cast

Crew

Production

Tony Todd said in 2011 that two more films could be shot back to back if Final Destination 5 did well. New Line announced a new film in January 2019. Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan wrote the first script, described as a reimagining. They ended up with off-screen credit for additional literary material. In March 2020 Craig Perry said it might be set among first responders like EMTs, firefighters and police. Jeffrey Reddick said in October 2020 that the film had been in the works before COVID.

Lori Evans Taylor was named writer in October 2021. In January 2022 HBO Max said it would release the film, with Jon Watts producing and Guy Busick co-writing with Taylor. In September 2022 Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein were picked from more than 200 candidates. In their pitch meeting on Zoom, they faked a deadly accident using prerecorded footage and effects. In March 2024 Warner Bros. moved the film from streaming to theaters and announced most of the cast.

The directors said they worked on it for three years. They said they were inspired by the screw on the balance beam in Final Destination 5, and that the spaghetti scene in Final Destination 2 inspired Bobby's vending machine setup. The Final Destination Wiki quotes them saying the opening was first planned for a 1950s riverboat.

Tony Todd signed on in September 2023 to play Bludworth again, with the story digging into his past. He died in November 2024. Warner Bros. confirmed he had finished all his scenes, and the film is dedicated to him.

Filming was set for Vancouver from July to October 2023 but shut down in mid-July because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. It restarted with two prep periods and a partly different crew. Principal photography ran March 4 to May 13, 2024 in Vancouver, with Christian Sebaldt shooting. Tim Wynn was hired to score the film in December 2024. Test screenings in July 2024 went well.

The Sky View was built as several sets that fit together. Lipovsky and Stein said there were six: the main restaurant, a tilted floor piece, the balcony, the area under the dance floor, the stairwell, and a hanging set. They put the main restaurant at 120 feet wide; Sony's article says a 100-foot circular set raised eight feet off the floor. Pixomondo surrounded it with an LED volume about 200 feet long and 24 feet tall at Bridge Studios in Burnaby. Pixomondo built the city backgrounds from 360-degree drone footage shot at 400 feet, plus lidar and photogrammetry, so the time of day could be changed on the wall.

The film was shot on Sony Venice 2 cameras, with Blackmagic cameras for some shots, on Leitz primes and an Angenieux Optimo Ultra 12X zoom. It was framed 2.39:1 and protected for IMAX 1.90:1, and some scenes open up to the taller IMAX frame. Two or three cameras usually rolled at once. Colorist Paul Westerbeck built the show LUT, and the DIT could change iris, ISO and ND filters remotely.

Digital Domain did previs for the big set pieces, which let the crew work out camera positions and set changes before building.

The Bloodlines effects philosophy deliberately combines physical gags with invisible digital cleanup so the center of the frame retains real materials, performers or set pieces.

The Skyview restaurant was built as a 100-foot circular set raised eight feet above the floor, surrounded by a Pixomondo LED volume measuring 200 feet wide and 24 feet tall.

Drone photography captured at approximately 400 feet supplied panoramic city imagery; Pixomondo combined it with lidar and photogrammetry for adjustable backgrounds.

Digital Domain prepared moving 3D storyboards that let the departments and performers study the major action scenes before shooting.

Sebaldt and his DIT monitored images through Paul Westerbeck’s custom show LUT while remotely controlling camera settings; practical restaurant lights were also dimmer-controlled.

Filming locations

• Museum of Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia: Base of the Sky View tower
• Bridge Studios, Burnaby, British Columbia: Sky View restaurant sets inside the Pixomondo LED volume
• Vancouver area, British Columbia: Stand-in for Cloverdale, New York, and the rest of the film
• The fictional Skyview Restaurant was assembled from a real Vancouver-area exterior location and multiple purpose-built interior disaster sets.

Effects and makeup

The rule was a real thing in the middle of the frame. Stunts, special effects and makeup built a practical base, and visual effects removed rigs, extended sets and finished what could not be done safely. VFX supervisor Nordin Rahhali said the visuals look best when they are built off something real. The film has about 800 visual effects shots.

Pixomondo was the lead vendor. It ran the LED volume, built the Sky View asset and did the penny explosion shots. FOLKS VFX did the penny bouncing through vents and fan blades and the final penny shot. Picture Shop also contributed.

Special effects supervisor Tony Lazarowich's crew used a lot of real, controlled fire. Sets were fireproofed, which stretched the build schedule, and the fire department was on set every day. Iris's cabin explosion was fully practical and filmed with eight high-speed cameras. Cinematographer Christian Sebaldt said the stuntwoman in flames in the opening, Yvette Ferguson, was all real.

MastersFX, led by Todd Masters, did the makeup effects. For Erik's MRI death they built a reverse-folded torso with breakaway tattooed skins, and several skins were destroyed in testing. Stunts pulled the piercings with monofilament and small blood bags, two performers were stacked for the body at the machine, and VFX added the wheelchair, the body break, extra blood and wire removal. The directors said Erik's skull tattoo was placed so the wheelchair spokes would line up like the Final Destination 5 poster.

For Erik hanging by his nose ring in the tattoo shop, swimming nose plugs were glued inside Richard Harmon's nose with hidden magnets in the chain links that would break apart at about five pounds of pull. He was rigged that way for six shooting days. Joshua Raymond designed a small inner-nose rig and a half-face prosthetic was tested. The fire in that scene was mostly real, with blood bags and wires cleaned up later.

Julia's garbage truck death was Anna Lore's first day on set. The crew built a plate with rubber-tipped rods that closed safely around her real face, a crushable 3-D-scanned copy of her head, and a silicone arm that came off on cue. MastersFX tested by crushing fruits and vegetables. VFX replaced the rods with a flat metal surface and blended the practical pieces.

MastersFX also made several mowable heads for Howard, though most of that was cut down and the mower gag was mostly Lazarowich's work. They built a full-size puppet for the maitre d' cut in half by the elevator, supervised by Dan Rebert, and an animatronic hand with a cable mechanism for Iris's ring finger injury, made for IMAX close-ups by Raymond and Yukiyo Okajima. The hand degloving and lawnmower shots started from practical maquettes.

For the train ending, the actors fell onto stunt pads. The logs turn into CG, and the wrecked houses were done entirely in VFX.

The Skyview disaster used several separate restaurant sets, including a tilting set with practical breakaway glass.

Stunt performers physically fell through breakaway surfaces and performers were rigged on wires for the tilted-set work.

The production used controlled practical fire extensively; sets were fireproofed and the fire department was present for the fire-heavy photography.

The directors and VFX team favored practical bodies, sets, fire and stunt elements as the base image, with visual effects used to remove support rigs, extend environments and complete impossible beats.

For Julia's garbage-truck death, the production built a rig that pressed safely around Anna Lore's real face, plus a crushable duplicate head and detachable arm for the practical-to-CG handoff.

For Erik's MRI death, MastersFX created a reverse-folded torso with breakaway tattooed skins; stunt, SFX and VFX departments combined practical piercing pulls, two performers and digital cleanup.

The tattoo-parlor sequence used wires, practical blood bags and real controlled fire before VFX removed rigs and extended the effect.

Props and costumes

Michelle Hunter designed the costumes. Rachel O'Toole was production designer and Benjamin Mullen set decorator. The 1969 Sky View was dressed as a period space with curved furniture, round lights and bumper-like seating.

The Sky View furniture, breakaway glass, tableware and dressing had to work as period decor and as stunt and effects pieces at the same time.

Iris's notebook tracking Death's signs is the key prop of the story, and a penny starts the Sky View disaster.

Propstore's Spring 2026 London auction, lot 132, offered opening-scene costumes for young Iris (Brec Bassinger), Mrs. Fuller (Yvette Ferguson) and the Sky Deck Hat Lady (Megan Hui), estimated at 1,000 to 2,000 pounds. A Direct Liquidation Hollywood prop auction offered a bellhop uniform and luggage cart as lot 176.

Michelle Hunter designed the costumes, with Rachel O'Toole leading production design and Benjamin Mullen set decoration. The 1969 Skyview sequence was treated as a fully authored period environment rather than a neutral disaster stage, with curved furniture, circular lighting and bumper-like seating arranged so the restaurant could physically behave like a giant pinball machine once it tilted.

The Skyview was spread across multiple practical sets, including a roughly 100-to-120-foot-wide main restaurant surrounded by a custom LED volume and separate tilted/sliding sections. Furniture, breakaway glass, tableware and other dressing therefore had to work both as period décor and as active stunt/effects components.

Surviving auction records document opening-sequence costumes for Young Iris, Mrs. Fuller and the Sky Deck Hat Lady, plus a bellhop uniform and luggage cart. These records provide physical wardrobe and set-prop provenance alongside the film's digital production assets.

Design

Production artifacts

Art and design

• The IMP Awards primary one-sheet credits Concept Arts; the archive also includes later designs credited to The Refinery and B O N D.

Scripts and documents

The killers

Deaths

The premonition

The disaster: Skyview Restaurant tower catastrophe

Death design

• Skyview bloodline genealogy
• family death order
• Bludworth legacy material

Tim Wynn composed the score, using Shirley Walker's original Final Destination themes.

Final Destination Bloodlines (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) came out on Lakeshore Records on May 16, 2025, 65:58. It is the third soundtrack album in the series. Cues include Bloodlines (End Titles), Elevator Ride, The MRI, Bludworth's Goodbye, Bludworth, Escape to the Compound, Waterworld, The Skyview, Lawnmower Man, Meet Bludworth, Decoding Iris' Book, Resurrection, I Screwed Up the Order, Tower of Terror, Technically You Weren't Dead, Recycling, Your Plan is Nuts, Psycho Grandma, The Collapse, Look After Paco, The Compound and End Credits Suite (5:13).

Songs in the film but not on the album: Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival; Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash; Fallin' by Connie Francis; Shout by The Isley Brothers; Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head by Bobbie Gentry; Escape (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes; Enter the Grave by Evile; Without You by Air Supply; Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson; Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum.

Air Supply's Without You plays through the February 2025 teaser built around Erik's tattoo shop.

Home Media

• Digital release announced June 17, 2025, one month after theaters.
• 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray combo, Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, July 22, 2025. It is the first film in the series released on 4K. The US 4K is 2160p HEVC with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, 2.39:1, English Dolby Atmos. Extras: audio commentary with Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky; Death Becomes Them: On the Set of Final Destination Bloodlines (6:11); The Many Deaths of Bloodlines (7:26); The Legacy of Bludworth (5:24).
• 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray SteelBooks in the US, Canada and the UK in 2025 with the same extras. Walmart later listed two more SteelBook designs, Bus Shelter and Alt Skull, dated September 22, 2025.
• Other 2025 Blu-ray releases listed on DVDCompare: France, Germany and Holland (Warner Home Video), Hong Kong (Manta Lab) and Taiwan (Deltamac).
• Streaming on HBO Max worldwide from August 1, 2025. It premiered on HBO on August 2 at 8 p.m. ET after an HBO marathon of the franchise.

• Final Destination Bloodlines (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Lakeshore Records, 2025.
• Theatrical posters: a teaser of Erik's skull hanging by his nose chain; the main poster of the Sky View under a flaming skull; and four Life Is a Death Trap posters built on a water glass, a rake, a grill and a fence, each hiding a skull.
• Warner Bros. Home Entertainment press mailer, 2025: six trap-themed custom pennies in a collector box, made by Mandy Kay Marketing and sent to 50 horror and entertainment influencers and outlets.
• ODEON Cinemas UK giveaway, May 2025: a black logo cap, a skull-print water bottle and a skull-print tote, with a 2025 WBEI copyright.
• Final Destination Bloodlines Experience, 2025: a free 18-and-over touring fan event in select markets with death-trap photo stops.
• Your Fate, an interactive site from the official campaign, 2025.
• Official one-sheet sold by MoviePosters.com; T-shirts and sweatshirts from iFILMthings. Other online shops sell shirts, hoodies and mugs that call themselves official; Warner licensing could not be confirmed.
• Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Final Destination: Bloodlines custom penny press-mailer kit: six trap-themed custom 'pennies' housed in a collector box, produced in a run sent to 50 horror/entertainment influencers and press outlets.

The catalog

Trailers & clips

Gallery

Posters & Key Art

Film Stills

Behind the Scenes

Press & Promo

Effects

Costumes

Alternate Art