Jon Watts has become one of the Marvel Cinematic’s staple filmmakers in recent years. In addition to having directed all of the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movies, Watts has also been attached to helm the superhero franchise’s Fantastic Four reboot since December 2020. But before he turns his attention to Marvel’s First Family, Watts is taking a trip to Horrorville to help revive the Final Destination franchise that launched in 2000.
It’s been announced that Jon Watts has boarded Final Destination 6 as a producer. He’ll be joined on the producing front by his wife and partner, Dianne McGunigle, as well as Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor, with former having been part of this horror franchise since the beginning and the latter having come aboard on Final Destination 2. Watts also wrote the Final Destination 6 treatment that Lori Evans Taylor and Guy Busick based their script on. Here’s what Watts had to say about his involvement in an official statement (via Variety):
Both Dianne and I have been massive fans of Final Destination from the very beginning. So to be able to have a hand in crafting a new story with the original team and New Line is going to be both fun and exciting.
Each of the first five Final Destination movies followed a group of people who manage to escape death after an individual experiences a premonition and warns them about what’s to come. Unfortunately, the members of said group later end up dying anyway from a series of increasingly bizarre accidents. We last revisited this horror property in 2011, with Final Destination 5 being met with mixed positive reception and making nearly $158 million worldwide. Horror veteran Tony Todd appeared in the first, second and fifth movies as William Bludworth, who knows the most about Death and its efforts to always collect what it’s owed.
Word came in back in 2019 that Final Destination 6 was in development, with Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, who wrote four Saw movies together, being originally hired to pen the screenplay. Plot details for the next Final Destination movie are still being kept secret (outside of possibly focusing on first responders), but this entry is expected to be a re-imagining of the franchise, though whether that means it will be a full-blown reboot or maintain direct ties with its five predecessors remains to be seen. Final Destination 6 will also premiere exclusively on HBO Max rather than play in theaters first.
Jon Watts is coming off of the massive success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which has been met with critical acclaim and made over $1.5 billion worldwide. Although a fourth Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movie is being actively developed, between his work on Final Destination 6 and Fantastic Four, as well as planning to direct Ocean’s Eleven duo George Clooney and Brad Pitt in an untitled thriller, he may not have the time to revisit the Web-Slinger. Watts’ other filmmaking credits include Clown and Cop Car.
As soon as more details about Final Destination 6 come in, including when it will drop on HBO Max, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, figure out which of this year’s movies catch your eye with our 2022 release schedule.
