It's still way too early to call it a done deal, but given the small nugget of news we just got from STYD.com, it sure looks like WB wants to make a sequel to I Am Legend. (And given the flick's massive box office numbers, that should come as no surprise whatsoever.)
No, there's nothing official just yet: No casting calls or press releases ... yet. But we do know that author Richard Matheson recently sold the sequel rights over to the studio ... which means that someone at Warner Bros. is getting the ball rolling NOW. (And good for Richard Matheson, earning an easy paycheck like that!!) As Shock so accurately points out, this would make the first cinematic follow-up to the oft-lensed source material. (Neither The Last Man on Earth nor The Omega Man earned a sequel, which would make this the first.) Curious to see how they get Will Smith to "return" for the sequel. (Let me guess: It involves cloning.)
Oh, and if you liked the new movie version, cool. Do yourself a (big) favor and read the book now.
''When I started in movies, I said, 'I want to be the biggest movie star in the world.' The biggest movie stars make the biggest movies, so (my producing partner James Lassiter and I) looked at the top 10 movies of all time. At that point, they were all special-effects movies. So Independence Day -- no-brainer. Men in Black -- no-brainer. I, Robot -- no-brainer.'' -- Will Smith, Entertainment Weekly, "Hollywood's 50 Smartest," Nov. 28, 2007
And that's a fairly loaded turn of phrase, because to many movie fans, 'no-brainer' better describes the scripts and direction of IndependenceDay, Men in Black and I, Robot than it does the decision to star in them. And before seeing I Am Legend, a third Hollywood version of Richard Matheson's 1954 book following in the footsteps of 1964's The Last Manon Earth and 1971's The Omega Man, the specter and spectacle of Smith's track record in big-budget science fiction loomed like a dark cloud. I walked into I Am Legend cautious and underwhelmed, with Smith's past genre efforts in mind; I staggered out of I Am Legend impressed and enthused and a little wrung-out after a well-executed and perfectly pitched demonstration of brute-force big-money horror-action film making. I'm hesitant to say how well I Am Legend will endure the test of time, but while you're watching it, you're caught in an iron grip, moved and manipulated and carried away by film makers who know exactly how to make you sink into our seat with dread. I shivered and tensed throughout I Am Legend, and at the end of the credits, I was dumbstruck to learn it was PG-13; it felt far more gripping and grim and upsetting than that rating would suggest.
As a longtime science fiction aficionado with a weakness for special effects, Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend is catnip to me. That doesn't mean I won't be watching with a critical eye, though. I've accumulated a long list of pet peeves about the way that "last man on earth" stories are told, both in print and on screen, and personal warning signs have already popped up just from watching the trailers for I Am Legend. I hope I'm proven wrong and that the film allays my concerns, carrying me away to another time and place, but I'll be on the lookout for some of the stupid things last men on earth do -- and don't do.
1. They Become Attached to Just One Pet
Uh oh, it looks like Will Smith only has one dog. That's never a good sign. He exercises with him, tells him to eat his vegetables, hunts with him, and bathes him. (Later he holds the dog's limp body in his arms; just before that, he screams "Nooooooo!!", sounding like Darth Vader, which may or may not be related to what happens to the dog.) Why do you think all those old ladies keep dozens of cats around? In case one of them dies! Now, I'm not saying Will Smith's dog dies in the movie -- I told you, I haven't seen it -- but if you're the last man on earth, you have to plan ahead. Even if your best dog friend doesn't get eaten by lions or murdered by mysterious creatures of the night, you might actually outlive your buddy, so always have multiple dogs hanging around just in case. (Don't fret too much; remember, All Dogs Go to Heaven.) Unless, of course, Will's canine pal is The Last Dog on Earth, which might be another movie entirely.
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 Broshas 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.
When you first movie is a cult sensation and your second movie is ... troubled, it's best to have a third project waiting in the wings. Fortunately for Donnie Darko and Southland Tales director Richard Kelly, that third flick is -- after a long gestation period -- finally coming together. According to Variety, veteran character actor Frank Langella will be joining Cameron Diaz in the horror film The Box. The trade paper says Langella will play "a stranger who presents a mysterious box to a woman." How's that for a killer role?
But Variety also reminds us that The Box is based on an old Richard Matheson story called Button, Button. (The basic premise is this: You're given a magical box and if you press the button, you become rich -- but a total stranger will die. You may remember this story from an episode of the "new" Twilight Zone that ran in the late '80s.) Although Eli Roth used to be connected to this project (as a writer, I believe), it now looks like it's Kelly's show all the way. When Cinematicalinterviewed Kelly at Fantastic Fest, he had this to say regarding The Box: "But my next movie is a psychological thriller, it's PG-13, has a mainstream concept, and it's something the studio is much more comfortable in committing to right away, telling us they'll put it on 2500 screens." So it's a horror film, but we're talking Vacancy1408 horror here. In addition to directing, he'll be adapting the Matheson story. Production gets underway in the middle of next month.
And just in case you forgot, another Matheson adaptation -- I Am Legend -- hits theaters in December.
Come this Christmas,I Am Legend, a science fiction horror film starring Will Smith and based on a novel by Richard Matheson, will be hitting theaters. This will make three adaptations for Matheson's novel, the last being 1971's The Omega Man, which starred Charlton Heston. The book was first adapted for the 1964 film The Last Man on Earth, a bleak post-apocalyptic nightmare starring Vincent Price. While still taking a few liberties with the source material, the Price film is easily the more faithful of the two, and this Italian/British co-production has been a personal favorite for years.
The film opens with a series of shots depicting a city with no citizens. A few bodies lie here and there, but otherwise the streets are empty. The Marquee in front of a church reads "The End Has Come." The camera moves into a residential neighborhood and into the home of Dr. Robert Morgan (Price), the titular last man on earth whose sanity is hanging by a thread. Each night Morgan's house is assaulted by vampire-like creatures, the after effects of the global plague that has wiped out mankind. The creatures are bloodthirsty but weak and are only dangerous in numbers.
Donnie Darko fans (I'm a big one) have been waiting impatiently for director Richard Kelly's follow-up, Southland Tales, to finally get a release. Don't hold your breath -- it's currently slated on imdb for March 2008! Also not exactly inspiring confidence is the fact that today brings an announcement about Kelly's upcoming project that doesn't even mention Southland! Cameron Diaz is set to star in Kelly's The Box, an adaptation of the Richard Matheson story "Button Button." The script will be written by Kelly. The announcement states that the film will be "a PG-13 horror film," and I'm guessing that the strange mention of the MPAA rating before the film even begins production has a lot to do with the recent uproar over horror violence. The article states that the $20 million opening of the (PG-13) Stephen King adaptation 1408 "made the star-driven high concept supernatural thriller The Box feel like a viable financial proposition.
In the film, Diaz will play "a young woman who is given a mysterious box by a stranger. She's told that certain things will happen depending on which buttons she presses." They might want to work on getting a more exciting description for this one! This all fills me with mixed emotions. I love Donnie Darko, and I want to see Kelly succeed, but Cameron Diaz? I like Diaz in comedies -- I even like her guttural horse laugh. But in dramas -- yikes. The thought of her trying to convincingly convey fear makes me more than a little skeptical. Kelly feels more confident than I do, saying rather robotically, "My hope is to make a film that is incredibly suspenseful and broadly commercial, while still retaining my artistic sensibility. I am especially excited to be working with Cameron Diaz, an actress I have always admired." Production on The Box begins this fall, expect to see Southland Tales ... some time before the end of the world.
I can't be the only who is just a little disappointed with the first poster for the vampire-apocalypse flick I Am Legend. ComingSoon.net is hosting a first look at the poster that, for me, falls just a little flat -- especially since the cover of the book gave me the willies when it was laying on my coffee table. The film, based on the novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, has been a high-profile project for Warner Bros since back when rumors had Johnny Depp in talks for the villainous lead. Since then, we've had word that Depp is no longer in the running and some fans of the book still aren't convinced that action star Will Smith can carry it off alone -- hey, it could've been worse, the project was originally made for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The film centers on Smith's character, who as the sole survivor of a "vampire" plague, battles it out in Omega Man style. Directed by Francis Lawrence, the project has been playing casting musical chairs for a while, but we finally have a confirmed cast that includes Alice Braga as a fellow survivor, and Salli Richardson as Smith's wife Ginny. There has been talk that a trailer will make an appearance in front of Ocean's 13, when that film hits screens this Friday -- and, as always, we'll keep the updates coming until December 14 when Legend hits theaters.
Though the news strangely fell through the cracks of the internet's ComicCon reporting, while participating in a Southland Tales panel (which apparently didn't go so well -- he couldn't actually get his clip to play) last Friday, Richard Kelly announced what he'll be doing once he gets done totally overhauling Tales. According to JoBlo, the director will be helming The Box, a film he seems to have cowritten with, of all people, splatter king Eli Roth. Actually, until he got too busy, the film was going to be directed by Roth; Kelly's decision to take over was a fairly recent one.
The Box, which is based on a short story by Richard Matheson (the guy who wrote I Am Legend, soon to be a Will Smith movie), goes this way: "A small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a troubled married couple, who open it and become instantly wealthy. Little do they realize that opening the box also kills someone they do not know." Uh ... Ok. I have no response to that. It sounds like something that could easily be done really, really badly (An attack box! With money falling out of it! Run away!), but Kelly's good with weird things, so who knows.
If the project actually goes any further (Kelly's already planning the shoot, so that sounds likely), we'll bring you the details as they roll in.
It's still way too early to call it a done deal, but given the small nugget of news we just got from STYD.com, it sure looks like WB wants to make a sequel to I Am Legend. (And given the flick's massive box office numbers, that should come as no surprise whatsoever.)
When you first movie is a cult sensation and your second movie is ... troubled, it's best to have a third project waiting in the wings. Fortunately for 
Donnie Darko fans (I'm a big one) have been waiting impatiently for director 
I can't be the only who is just a little disappointed with the first poster for the vampire-apocalypse flick 
Though the news strangely fell through the cracks of the internet's ComicCon reporting, while participating in a 
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