Apparently earning nearly $200 million worldwide carries more weight than the title The Final Destination, major emphasis on the the. According to Vulture, the folks at New Line Cinema have no plan to leave the franchise be as intended and are pushing forward with a fifth installment.
None of the films were praised by critics, but the fourth reached an all-time low on the Tomatometer earning a measly 27%. Even the studio is baffled by The Final Destination’s success. One executive confessed, “It’s the worst film of the franchise. And that’s not my opinion; that’s everyone’s opinion.”
Regardless, the film exceeded expectations at the box office and put the continuation bug in the studio’s head hiring Eric Heisserer, the scribe responsible for The Nightmare on Elm Street reboot, to get to work on an FD 5 script even before the project was given the go ahead. Then, to their surprise, Alan Horn, the president of New Line’s parent company Warner Bros., officially announced the film was good to go at ShoWest and recently unveiled an officiall release date, August 26th, 2011.
A fifth film wouldn’t be such a terrible thing if the studio weren’t treating it as another attempt to make some quick cash. Rather than hunt down a seasoned director fervent on putting the franchise back on track, New Line has three candidates on its list all of which are first timers. Steven Quale, Bradley Parker and Charles Gibson all come from the visual effects department implying the goal is to make this film’s third dimension pop far more than the last.
Sadly, that’s where the last movie went wrong. It seems as though the filmmakers were so obsessed with milking the new technology, they forgot that throwing car parts and flames in your face doesn’t make up for an awful script. The new Nightmare on Elm Street was an above average reboot, but still leaves me concerned with Heisserer’s ability to tackle this franchise. However, the guy does have a ton of work coming his way, namely The Thing remake and another Nightmare movie, so perhaps he’s got more to offer.
As a total sucker for these films, it’s hard to say no to another. Film #3 would have been the opportune place to stop, but they didn’t. At this point, the franchise couldn’t get much worse, so why not give it another shot? Hopefully, Heisserer and the new director will take a hint from the last film’s mistakes and bring back the spirit of the originals and using the 3D style to enhance it, not use it as a device.
By Perri Nemiroff
