Final Destination 3 stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ryan Merriman, and takes place over 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.

The idea of featuring a roller coaster derailment as the opening-scene disaster came from New Line Cinema executive Richard Bryant.

As they board the Devil's Flight roller coaster, Wendy has a premonition that a dropped camcorder will land on the ride's severely eroded tracks and will be run over by the train cars, causing the hydraulics securing the restraints and train cars to fail during the ride, killing everyone on board.

She convinces nine passengers, including Kevin, best friends Ashley Freund and Ashlyn Halperin, alumnus Frankie Cheeks, athlete Lewis Romero, and goth couple Ian McKinley and Erin Ulmer, not to ride the roller coaster, but fails to save Jason and Carrie, who are among the remaining passengers killed in the derailment.

Weeks later, Kevin tells Wendy about the explosion of Flight 180 and the survivors' subsequent deaths,[a] believing they may be in a similar situation.

The collision causes the truck's engine to burst out of the hood and grille, killing Frankie, who was in the car in front of them, as the fan sliced his skull.

[4] Director James Wong said that unlike the second film, which was closely tied to the first and continued its story, the producers always envisioned Final Destination 3 as a stand-alone sequel featuring new characters.

[6] Morgan said it was for financial reasons and because he believed fire and blood effects would not be shown properly through the red filters of anaglyph 3D systems.

[9] During the casting process, Wong sought actors who could portray the main characters as heroic individuals with realistic qualities.

[5] Winstead, who had auditioned for the second Final Destination film,[10] won the role because her portrayal of the character's emotion impressed Wong and Morgan.

He felt Winstead "[brought] a kind of soulfulness to her role as Wendy" and though her character "is deeply affected by the accident", her strength allows her to remain in control.

[13] On April 9, 2005, Kris Lemche and Alexz Johnson were cast as the goth couple Ian McKinley and Erin Ulmer.

Tony Todd, who appeared in the first two films, did not return as the mortician Bludworth but voiced the Devil statue at the roller coaster and a subway conductor.

[16] According to Perry, in the film's revised ending, it was intended to have A. J. Cook and Michael Landes reprise their roles as Kimberly Corman and Officer Thomas Burke, respectively, from the previous movie.

For the coaster-crash scenes, the actors were filmed performing in front of a green screen, to which a computer-generated imagery (CGI) background was added.

[19] Meteor Studios produced the roller coaster and subway crashes while Digital Dimension handled the post-premonition death scenes.

[19] The score for Final Destination 3 was composed and conducted by Shirley Walker, who wrote the soundtracks of the series' previous installments.

[21] Musician Tommy Lee provided a cover of The O'Jays 1972 song "Love Train", which was used in the film's closing credits.

[24] As a further means of promotion, a novelization written by Christa Faust was published by Black Flame a month before the film's release.

[26] During San Diego Comic-Con 2006, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, James Wong and Ryan Merriman attended a panel on July 22 to promote the DVD release of the film.

[2] At the time of its release, the film was the most financially successful installment in the franchise; it retained this title until The Final Destination surpassed it in 2009 with a worldwide gross of $186,167,139.

[32] Special features include an audio commentary, a deleted scene, three documentaries, the theatrical trailer, and an original animated video.

Most provide only minor alterations to the death scenes, but the first choice allows the viewer to stop Wendy, Kevin, Jason, and Carrie from boarding the roller coaster before the premonition, ending the film immediately.

[39] Several critics described the story as formulaic compared to the previous installments; Roger Ebert wrote that the film's main issue was its predictability and lack of tension because it was "clear to everyone who must die and in what order".

[42] TV Guide called the periods between characters' deaths "dull", highlighting one reason the film failed to match the formula set out in the previous installments.

[44][45] Empire's Kim Newman and The Guardian found the story enjoyable, but said Final Destination 3 adhered primarily to the structure set out by the rest of the franchise.

Writing for ReelViews, James Berardinelli described Final Destination 3 as incorporating more humor compared to its predecessors and said it worked to the film's benefit.

[48] The Seattle Times agreed the film's humorous tone helped to elevate it and said fans of the franchise would enjoy the death sequences.

She commended the film's style as a "brightly coloured [and] slightly silly meditation on how we're all gonna die one day, so we might as well do it explosively".