Final Destination 3 (2006)

Final Destination 3 is a 2006 American supernatural horror film produced and directed by James Wong, who co-wrote it with Glen Morgan. It is a standalone sequel to Final Destination 2 (2003) and the third installment in the Final Destination film series. It stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ryan Merriman, and takes place six years after the first film. Winstead plays Wendy Christensen, a high school graduate who has a premonition that a roller coaster she and her classmates are riding will derail. Although she saves some of them, Death begins hunting the survivors. Wendy realizes that photographs she took at the attraction contain clues about the deaths. With survivor and friend Kevin Fischer (Merriman), Wendy tries to use this knowledge to save the rest of the survivors and stop Death's scheme.

The film's development began shortly after the release of Final Destination 2; Jeffrey Reddick, creator of the franchise and a co-writer of the first two films, did not return. Unlike the second film, which was a direct sequel to the first, the producers envisioned Final Destination 3 as a standalone film. The idea of featuring a roller coaster derailment as the opening-scene disaster came from New Line Cinema executive Richard Bryner. From the beginning, Wong and Morgan saw control as a major theme in the film. Casting began in March 2005 and concluded in April. Like the previous two installments, it was filmed in Vancouver, Canada. The first two weeks of the three-month shoot were spent filming the scenes involving the roller coaster derailing.

Following its premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on February 2, 2006, the film was released in cinemas in the United States on February 10, 2006. The DVD, released on July 25, 2006, includes commentaries, documentaries, a deleted scene and an animated video. A special-edition DVD called "Thrill Ride Edition" includes a feature called "Choose Their Fate", which acts as an interactive film, allowing viewers to make decisions at specific points in the film that alter the course of the story.

Final Destination 3 received mixed reviews from critics. The film was a financial success and, with box office receipts of nearly $118 million, the highest-grossing installment in the franchise at the time. A fourth film, The Final Destination, was released in August 2009.