Warning: This post contains spoilers for the 2007 blockbuster I Am Legend.
Fifteen years ago, Will Smith had one of his biggest-ever hits with I Am Legend, another take on Richard Matheson’s classic post-apocalyptic novel about a lone survivor fighting off the undead that have replaced much of humanity. Now that film is becoming the latest IP retread, with a twist.
As per Deadline, Smith is teaming up with Michael B. Jordan to produce a belated sequel. Details are currently thin on the ground, but among the things the follow-up will have to do is resurrect Smith’s character, who sacrificed himself to save two of the only other humans left on a planet whose population was [deep sigh] wiped out by a super-virus (albeit a human-made one, meant to eradicate cancer).
I Am Legend hails from a very different time. In the late period George W. Bush era, franchises hadn’t yet taken over Hollywood. Thus, I Am Legend was a one-off that even killed off its valiant hero, with little hope for a sequel. What’s more Smith spent the majority of the film wandering an eerily empty New York City by himself, his only company a German Shepherd, who, of course, doesn’t survive to the end either. Still, Hollywood brings the dead back to life all the time.
Matheson’s source has been adapted for the big screen multiple times, notably with Vincent Prince (in 1964’s The Last Man on Earth, filmed in Rome) and Charlton Heston (in 1971’s L.A.-set The Omega Man). Of course, the Will Smith-led I Am Legend plays very differently now in other ways. The species is still fending off its own deadly super-virus, which turned New York City into a ghost town for a few months two years back. Many noticed the similarities, though a few even got some key points incredibly, irresponsibly wrong, forcing one of the film’s screenwriters to set things straight.
(Via Deadline)
