Final Destination is a 2000 horror film about a group of students who 'cheat death' by avoiding a plane crash but must eventually pay the price. The script was originally written by Jeffrey Reddick as a spec script for the X-Files. (Director James Wong worked as a writer, producer and director on that series.) The story has some interesting similarities with an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "Twenty-Two". The film is distributed by New Line Cinema. The DVD was released on September 26, 2000.

The film was the first in the Final Destination series, and was followed by Final Destination 2 (2003) and by Final Destination 3 (2006). It also spawned a series of related novels, the Final Destination books. Recently, Zenescope Entertainment has begun producing a series of Final Destination comic books mini-series called Final Destination: Death Never Takes a Vacation, featuring a trip to Cancun gone wrong.

The movie takes place on Long Island. Locations such as Jones Beach and John F. Kennedy International Airport are shown. Nassau County is mentioned. However, Vancouver International Airport stood-in for JFK.

On his way to a class trip to Paris, Alex Browning (played by Devon Sawa), has a vision that the aircraft Volee Air Flight 180 is going to explode after takeoff. Alex tries to get off the plane and causes a ruckus; as a result, he, a teacher, and several students are kicked off the plane. Only moments later they witness the plane exploding through the windows of the airport terminal. While the survivors are initially relieved, their relief is short-lived, as Death comes after them to seal their fate.

Alexander Chance Browning (Devon Sawa): Alex, the main character, has a premonition that Flight 180 will explode. Making a scene before take-off, he and six other people get off the plane and witness the disaster. He would have been the last person to die on the plane.

Clear Rivers (Ali Larter): Clear is a loner who doesn't seem to have many friends, but she feels some sort of connection with Alex on the plane. She is not thrown off the airplane like the other students, but exits of her own volition. At first, she does not believe the concept of Death's design, but eventually does. She would have been the sixth person to die on the plane (although presumed to be last to die throughout most of the movie).

William "Billy" Hitchcock (Seann William Scott): On Flight 180, Billy was lucky enough to get in the middle of Carter's and Alex's fight and was kicked off. He is the jokester of the group, but not really friends with anyone. He would have been the fifth person to die on the plane.

Carter Horton (Kerr Smith): Carter is an athlete and a bit of a jerk who resents Alex throughout the film, thinking that he is some sort of freak. We are also led to believe Alex and Carter were not friendly even before Flight 180. He gets kicked off Flight 180 for fighting with Alex after Alex's premonition makes him cause a commotion about how the aircraft is going to explode. He would have been the fourth person to die on the plane.

Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke): One of the teachers on Flight 180. When Alex and Carter fight on the plane, she and another teacher get off to settle the two students. Finding out that Alex, Carter, and Billy got kicked off the plane, Ms. Lewton tells the other teacher to go back while she stays behind and catches a later flight. When Flight 180 explodes, she becomes very depressed and wants to move away because she feels she sent the other teacher to his death by telling him to get on the plane. She resents Alex, believing him to be some sort of witch. She would have been the third person to die on the plane.

Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer): Carter's girlfriend. A girl much kinder than her significant other who tried to break up Alex and Carter. She gets off Flight 180 because Carter got off. Terry is getting sick of Carter's constant bickering with Alex and is on the verge of breaking up with him. She would have been the second person to die on the plane.

Tod Waggner (Chad E. Donella): Alex's best friend. When Alex gets off the plane, Tod's brother, George, tells him to accompany Alex. George dies on the plane, and Tod's father blames Alex for the crash. As a result of this, Tod's friendship with Alex is strained. He would have been the first person to die on the plane.

Agent Wiene (Daniel Roebuck): Investigating the Flight 180 case. He follows Alex around, thinking that Alex might have had something to do with Flight 180's explosion and the subsequent deaths.

Agent Schreck (Roger Guenveur Smith): Agent Wiene's partner.

Final Destination received an R rating in the United States for violence and terror, and for language. In the United Kingdom, it received a 15 rating, while in Ireland it received an 18, for violence, horror and language.

Death's original design was for Flight 180 to explode, killing everyone on board. However, since Alex has his premonition, he gets others off, saving them. In Death's original design, they would have died in a specific order, it being Tod, Terry, Ms. Lewton, Carter, Billy, Clear, Alex. However, in the movie Alex prevents his "first" death before Carter's intervened death, because he switched seats and ended up sitting next to Tod, making the actual order Tod, Terry, Ms. Lewton, Billy, Carter, Alex (between movies), and Clear (in Final Destination 2).

Death's original design was for Flight 180 to explode, killing everyone on board. However, since Alex has his premonition, he gets others off, saving them. In Death's original design, they would have died in a specific order, it being Tod, Terry, Ms. Lewton, Carter, Billy, Clear, Alex. However, in the movie Alex prevents his "first" death before Carter's intervened death, because he switched seats and ended up sitting next to Tod, making the actual order Tod, Terry, Ms. Lewton, Billy, Carter, Alex (between movies), and Clear (in Final Destination 2).

The scene on the beach where Clear tells Alex about her family's past was extended. Clear was telling Alex how they must take action and do something big while they still had the time. Clear and Alex ended up making love and Clear later becomes pregnant (the scene where she finds out was deleted.) When Clear is next on Death's list, Alex saves her from the exploding car, but sacrifices himself to do so and dies. Nine months later, Clear gives birth to a baby boy (which she names Alex) and by doing that, she ruined Death's design because Clear creating life was not meant to be. She and Carter became close friends and they visit the Flight 180 memorial. Clear states that even though they defeated Death this one time, they only won a chance at a full life, because for everyone, there is always that one day. A falling leaf drops and the credits roll.

This ending did not go well in test screenings as Clear becoming pregnant made the film's ending predictable. Also, the general audience disliked how an antagonist like Carter receives a second chance at life whilst the protagonist, Alex, ends up dying. When the second ending was test screened, many people clapped and cheered when Carter was crushed by the sign. Although this ending became the official one, the filmmakers preferred the original ending.

The concept of new life defeating death was incorporated into the storyline of Final Destination 2. Many also agree that if this ending were actually used, Final Destination 2 may not have been possible, since a new storyline would be required. A sequel was not completely outruled; however the plot of Final Destination 2 may have changed significantly to the point where it would have surfaced amongst different characters and ultimately a new storyline.(It is noticable however that when Alex is thrown from the power cable in the original Final Destination a officer clearly says he has no pluse, therefore it is a sign that New Life wouldn't defeat death in the frist place)

Note: In the original script for this, the ending had a much darker setting. Clear was able to defeat Death only because she had an innocent soul inside her. After giving birth to a baby girl (and now not having an innocent life inside), the hospital shakes, with suspense building up, and the camera zooms in on Clear's face, implying that Death had taken her.