When you consider the last poster release we got from I am Legend; at least you knew that it could only get better from there. Movies Online started off by hosting 4 different posters for the the big-screen version of Richard Matheson's 1954 classic. But here's the bad news: two of them were just some pretty convincing fakes. I can't say I'm too disappointed since they look like they are cast offs from the Bad Boys II marketing campaign. Luckily, Warner Bros has produced a brand new poster for the film (which you can see to the right, and click on for a larger version), and it's definitely a step up from the first one (it's still the same general idea, but it's just a teeny bit more stylish).

Legend centers on the lone survivor of a 'vampiric plague'. Immune to the disease, he struggles to find a cure before the infected survivors wipe him out. Directed by Constantine's Francis Lawrence, the script was written by Mark Protosevich (Poseidon). Protosevich has been devoted to the project, writing his first draft almost 10 years ago. After numerous drafts and casting upheavals, the production began filming on location in New York and was completed last spring.

There is still the release of a Legend comic book from DC Comics and Vertigo expected in November that will be the basis for some online animated featurettes. The comic was created by Protosevich, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Orson Scott Card. Even Matheson's son helped out on the project as a consultant. Not content with stopping at a comic book and a series of shorts, WB commissioned a Second Life I Am Legend-related MMO game. Up against all of that, a movie poster seems downright quaint. I am Legend will hit theaters on December 14th.

His choice to play less-than-good guys lately is one of the factors that keeps Johnny Depp on the top of his game. Every great actor has to play a villain occasionally, because they are more fun and more interesting, plus they often keep a falling actor afloat for a little longer (see John Travolta, Kevin Spacey). Before Depp went anti-hero in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (not that either film was the first time), his star-power in Hollywood was starting to fade. The only thing is, one can't be creepy and kinda evil all the time, as he's been since then, except for in Finding Neverland. Plus, once going completely over to the dark side, it isn't always a given that it'll be easy to come back to playing the leading man part.

To play a vampiristic leader in the film I Am Legend, as he's rumored to do, will add another eccentric role to his resume, but will it make him even badder than we can tolerate? At least the latest version of Richard Matheson's novel should be somewhat comedic with Will "Aww Hell No" Smith in the lead, so it isn't like Depp will be playing too much for fright. Expect another quirky, campy character, who just happens to be the head of a blood-sucking population. Anyway, if there is one actor out there who audiences never accept as immoral as his characters, it is Depp. No matter how depraved he can be on screen, he continues to win the hearts of moviegoers, and audiences believe him to be a sweetheart in real life. I wonder what he'd have to do to make us believe he was really, really evil.