‘Final Destination’ Franchise Revived With ‘Spider-Man’ Director Jon Watts Producing

Adam B. Vary
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The “Final Destination” franchise lives again.

Fresh from the $1.5 billion–grossing behemoth “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” filmmaker Jon Watts has boarded “Final Destination 6” as a producer for New Line Cinema. Watts’ wife and partner, Dianne McGunigle (“Cop Car”), is also producing, alongside longtime “Final Destination” producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

More from Variety

Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (the new “Scream”) are writing the screenplay based on a treatment by Watts.

The film is set to debut on HBO Max.

“Both Dianne and I have been massive fans of ‘Final Destination’ from the very beginning,” Watts said in a statement. “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.”

“Final Destination” was one of the most durable horror franchises of the 2000s. In each of the five installments (which spanned from 2000 to 2011), a group of young, beautiful people escape a horrible death in the first act, and then find themselves dying over the course of the movie in a series of increasingly elaborate accidents. The films have grossed $657 million worldwide to date.

Watts is only set to produce “Final Destination 6.” His next directing gig will still likely be Marvel Studios’ reboot of the “Fantastic Four” superhero franchise, which remains undated.

“Jon and Dianne’s passion for the series is only matched by how much fun they are to work with,” Perry said. “Sheila and I couldn’t be more excited to have their creative energy driving this latest installment in the ‘Final Destination’ franchise with New Line. With Guy and Lori’s inspired execution of Jon’s original idea, we have a movie that audiences are gonna love.”

Watts is repped by CAA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole LLP. Busick is repped by A3 Artists Agency, Gotham Group and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein. Taylor is repped by ICM Partners, Kaplan/Perrone and McKuin Frankel Whitehead LLP

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.