Michiel Blanchart all set to direct new ‘Final Destination’ movie

WASHINGTON, DC: Belgian filmmaker Michiel Blanchart has been roped in to direct the next instalment of ‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Directed by Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky, the film took audiences to the very beginning of “Death’s twisted sense of justice.”

“Plagued by a violent recurring nightmare, college student Stefanie heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle and save her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all,” the official synopsis read.

The screenplay was written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, with the story from Busick, Taylor, and Jon Watts.

With a 51 million USD domestic debut, the movie achieved the best opening weekend in the series to date. By the end of its theatrical run, it became the franchise’s highest-grossing film, with a 286 million USD global haul, reported Variety.

Overall, the series has earned over 983 million USD worldwide, making it New Line’s third-biggest horror franchise behind ‘The Conjuring’ universe (2.3 billion USD) and the ‘It’ movies (1.2 billion USD)

Lori Evans Taylor, who wrote Bloodlines along with Gary Busick, is penning the new script.

Destination franchise producer Steward Craig Perry and franchise veteran Sheila Hanahan Taylor are back producing, as are Jon Watts and his wife, Dianne McGunigle, along with Toby Emmerich. Warren Zide is exec producing, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Final Destination franchise has earned over USD 1 billion worldwide, making it New Line’s third-largest horror franchise, behind the over USD 2.73 billion grossed by the Conjuring Universe and the USD 1.2 billion generated by the It films.

Blanchart made his feature debut with Night Call (Le nuit se traine), a 2024 action criminal thriller that received high praise not only for its Collateral-like genre thriller but also for its relevant societal critique. The film dominated the Belgian Academy Awards and the Magritte Awards earlier this year, receiving ten out of eleven nominations. Blanchart won Best Film, Best First Feature Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Director awards, according to The Hollywood Reporter. (ANI)