Rumor: Now WB is Making an 'I Am Legend' Sequel?!?
Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
Just so we're clear: I liked I Am Legend. I thought Will Smith did a great job of carrying what was (to be honest) a fairly mediocre film. But c'mon, was there really anything left to say? Warner Brothers is convinced that there is, and have even managed to bring back Smith and director Francis Lawrence for what we all thought was going to be a prequel. However, a tipster for AICN (who goes by the name of Westwood9) has dropped a few crumbs about the project, and if you thought the idea of a prequel was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet.According to AICN's tipster, "Smith is actually the one who developed the initial story. It took place several years before the original film and there were still pockets of survivors and the story centered around Smith interacting, bonding, and ultimately failing to save them." Not bad, right? Well, don't get too attached, because according to AICN, the studio wasn't biting (get it?) and, instead, scrapped the prequel in favor of a sequel. That's right, an honest to goodness sequel. Supposedly Smith and screenwriter D. B. Weiss weren't going to go for it either, but have since come around to the idea.
When the project was first announced back in September, I think most of us had just assumed that the only way to make another film was to make a prequel. *Spoiler Alert* After all, didn't the good doctor blow up at the end of the film? (There were of course those alternate endings, but we probably shouldn't count those). If WB does go ahead with a sequel, do you think it will open up a whole new world of possibilities about what happened to Smith's character at the end of the first film? Or, will it just confirm that the whole idea is just a cash-grab from the word go.
Sound off below...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-24-2008 @ 2:05PM
pAT said...
I loved I Am Legend up until my first full view of the crappy CG vampires. Then it was a rapid descent into disappointment canyon as the awful, over-the-top CGI yank-fest picked up even more steam.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't really care if they make another one because I'll pass regardless. Watching a movie with bad visual effects, even if the story is great, is like having a screaming baby in the theater. It takes you out of the story.
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11-24-2008 @ 3:01PM
Tom said...
I agree, why does the CG in these movies look like wonky cartoon nonsense? Same with irobot, total crap character animation. You'd think with their budgets they'd get a new FX company on the job. It's like a movie makes money and everyone suddenly is blind to seeing the bad elements of the movie that could be vastly improved because they don't want to mess with success. Even a sloppy success.
11-24-2008 @ 2:05PM
uhdare said...
A sequel would be a travesty. I hate it when movies do this sort of thing. So stupid. If he lives, it ruins the first movie!!!
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11-24-2008 @ 3:38PM
ICON! said...
*SIGH* somebody needs to flush Will Smith down the toilet already, that pile of crap has been floatin around for tooooo long.
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11-24-2008 @ 3:44PM
Mr.R said...
The concept of the movie wasn' t bad, the first half has some great moments but it just begs too much suspense of disbelief from the audience. The whole thing of him riding around in a shinny product placement kinda kills the thrill, it looks fake. They should have done a little more research on how life after such a tragedy would actually be. No one would take the time to drag a treadmill to the apartment, it would be nightmarish, he would have a beard and a trashy place to live in, have more scars, a Mad Max dog, etc. A sequel sounds silly due to the ending and yes, more of those plastic vamps would just bore the crap out of me. I rather watch 28 Days Later, again.
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11-24-2008 @ 4:00PM
Kevin said...
Check out the book. Its a lot closer to what you just described, and is vastly superior to the movie. Its a quick read too; only like 130 pages.
11-24-2008 @ 5:24PM
chuck said...
The alternative version on DVD is superior to the theatrical cut as it fleshes out the girl and the little boy better, and makes for better pacing. The ending works for a sequel but the studio is just stupid. What they are saying is Wil Smith is the only bankable star in movies. I say make the sequel, cast a new actor or actress and set the story in another major city. I say Jennifer Garner as the last female on earth and set the story in Los Angeles. The concept will sell. I'l pay to see it!
P.S I love THE OMEGA MAN Now that ending was classic!
http://blog.entertainmenttodayandbeyond.com/
Chuck
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11-24-2008 @ 5:24PM
Jim said...
Minor SPOILERS below.
I might even have been able to overlook the bad CG creatures if it wasn't for the ABSURDITY that the creatures actually started to plot against Smith. That's like expecting that a rabid dog or squirrel would start behaving like that, plotting against it's enemies instead of just going nuts, which is what the disease does. Sure, the disease in the movie wasn't exactly rabies, but it's symptoms were described as such. However, despite the fact that Will Smith's character supposedly routinely kidnapped and tested his vaccines on the creatures, it wasn't until we join in the movie that suddenly their is a specific leader of the bad guys/creatures and he decides to plot against Smith. He's like a friggin gang leader, attack dogs at his side and all (HOW STUPID!).
Anyway, I just saw the movie for the first time two days ago, so that's why I wanted to get that opinion out. As for a sequel, BAD IDEA.
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11-24-2008 @ 5:29PM
Jim said...
Oh, and if you were ok with the 'human' creatures plotting against Smith's character, could you POSSIBLY be ok with the creature leader's attack dogs not turning on the creatures? I mean, come on! Dogs that are infected with a rabies-like virus, and they are miraculously loyal to the infected humans? Who writes this crap? You don't think those dogs would've just attacked anybody they came in contact with? And each other? It makes you wonder why screenwriting is so competitive if the top paid writers are putting out such improbable garbage.
11-25-2008 @ 12:53AM
YouFaceTheTick said...
Hey maybe the sequel will use the real story and not just steal the name from the book?
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11-25-2008 @ 1:15AM
spamstratagem said...
I am willing to suspend disbelief to a certain point, but bringing back the lead who is dead is absurd.
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1-05-2009 @ 1:45PM
L said...
I love this movie, some of you people a hater. that all. If you could a better job do it.
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12-08-2008 @ 11:04PM
nancy said...
i agree with you , It sounds like to me that you people just don't like Will Smith, You show this when you don't have anything good to say about the movie, and how you would like to see anybody eles but Will Smith play the sequil, Will Smith's performance was off the charts, as always, and they couldn't have picked a better actor. Your faith in how they will intergrate Will into a sequil demandstrates your lack of imagination. Anyone can pick apart a movie, and nothing is done as well as what you would do, but untill we all get the long awaited chance to watch one of your masterpiece's i think the rest of us are happy to watch the second best ,next to you, Will Smith
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12-20-2008 @ 1:53AM
Erik said...
It's sad to say, at the rate of new developments every day with greater computer and A.I. technology on the horizon. There will be a day when all the movie productions companies as long as they keep making blockbuster hits for the most part for people who don't care or pay any attention to what CGI is or does it will come to a point where all the characters like in all these high tech video games where their voices will be synthisized to sound like them and made to look like them so the actual actor(s)/actres(s) that we know of today won't be needed any more for the part and will be out of the job cause you don't have to pay the computer to act nor will they go on strikes.
Time will only tell when all that will all happen, but it is soon not to far out there and hopefully people won't support it when it does and then boycott the living hell out of it to keep the traditional movie screen play acting alive.
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