I Am Legend - Prequel News/Discussion/Speculation

[Madwelshboy]

According to a source at AICN, Warner Bros. have decided to scrap the idea of an I AM LEGEND prequel because of it’s story limitations (i.e. we know exactly where it is going) and will instead go in the direction of a sequel.

Which is fine but as you may remember, Will Smith’s Robert Neville didn’t exactly make it out alive of the first movie and without him, do you even have a franchise to spawn a sequel from?

It was Will Smith after enjoying immensely his time working on the first picture who came up with an initial prequel story that would win him another go as this character. But Warner Bros. are now balking at that and have told D.B. Weiss to focus on writing a sequel and a continuation of how the last movie ended.

A lot of creative meetings and discussions ahead for this one. Personally, if they are desperate to carry on this franchise then I can’t help but feel the only direction they should take is a duel storyline… something that shows Will Smith’s downfall as he realises he is becoming the last man alive as the deadly virus spreads which can run concurrently with a new storyline set around the band of survivors from the first movie.

Or go the BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES idea and forget the star (in that case Charlton Heston) except for a few very brief scenes (in this case maybe flashbacks) and hire someone with the stature to carry on the franchise.

That was something the APES franchise never managed, replacing Charlton Heston. Can WB, replace Will Smith?

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/movi...mes-sequel.php

[AvatarIII]

ooh a movie about how the world is after the vampires take over and create a society? oh wait, that's just in the book

[the fifth man]

Without Will Smith in it, I probably won't be interested in a sequel.

[Angela V]

Actually Will Smith's character does survive with the alternate ending. The original ending had him realise the zombie (the book has them as vampires but the movie clearly went in the zombie direction) just wants his mate back. So Neville lets the the woman zombie go. Which is exactly what I thought everything was leading up to ( I didn't get the book from my library until after I rented the movie). Since I rented the movie I saw the ending that was decided on for the theatre release where Neville just blows himself up with the zombies. It gave a WTF moment because it made no sense from what was given in the movie. When it was coming out on DVD I found out the 2 disc had the original ending where Neville survives and you couldn't get that ending on the one disc. So I got the 2 disc. I had read the novel by then and thought it's ending was right because of the vampire storyline on how the vampires are viewed as monsters but with Neville going out and killing then he had become the monster. With the way the movie went, I thought the original ending was more fitting. If they want Smith back they just have to show the original ending and then right into the what they want to do.

I have watched the Vincent Price version The Last Man On Earth and that weird Omega Man version.

[the fifth man]

If I hear that Will Smith will be reprising his role, I'll definitely check it out. But yeah, they would have to do some serious explaining on how he survived.

[Madwelshboy]

I Am Legend prequel confirmed by director

I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence has confirmed that a script is being prepared for a spin-off from the Will Smith version of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.

Speaking to IGN, Lawrence stated that they were "waiting on a script" after he, producer Akiva Goldsman and Will Smith "sat down... and came up with the bones of an idea."

Lawrence noted that the movie will take place after the outbreak of the virus seen at the start of I Am Legend but before the main events of the original film. He said that the challenge was "trying to find a new way of getting [into the world] again, without it feeling like a repeat, a rehash, or it feeling forced, and feeling like there's a new story to tell within that world."

http://www.dwscifi.com/news/2999-i-a...ed-by-director

[AvatarIII]

I Am Legend prequel confirmed by director

I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence has confirmed that a script is being prepared for a spin-off from the Will Smith version of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.

Speaking to IGN, Lawrence stated that they were "waiting on a script" after he, producer Akiva Goldsman and Will Smith "sat down... and came up with the bones of an idea."

Lawrence noted that the movie will take place after the outbreak of the virus seen at the start of I Am Legend but before the main events of the original film. He said that the challenge was "trying to find a new way of getting [into the world] again, without it feeling like a repeat, a rehash, or it feeling forced, and feeling like there's a new story to tell within that world."

http://www.dwscifi.com/news/2999-i-a...ed-by-director

is it just me or is that sentance funny

[Madwelshboy]

is it just me or is that sentance funny

mite be you, i dont get it!

[AvatarIII]

the fact that it was challange to try and fit a new story in without it being forced....

[knowles2]

Personally I am not interested in the prequel, we know that he survives, and he looks after the cutest dog that I have seen in cinema for ages, looks for a cures, played golf of a carrier and set up a mall full of dummies to chick chat to every morning.

I am more interest in how they going to reverse engineer a vaccine from someone blood, presuming they even got a other viral and vaccine expert laying around somewhere, develop it into a gas form, really you do not want to go around injecting these guys one by one now do you and design and build a global dispersal system to disperse it around the world to billions of people and cool all their body temperatures down for the vaccine to work. But that's just me.

If you not going to do a sequel then just leave it alone and have it as a one off blockbuster which successfully combined good acting, descent storyline and good cgi. They are so few nowadays let not ruin this one.

[the fifth man]

I am actually kind of looking forward to this movie. Do I expect it to be as good as the first film was? - Not really. But I'll give it a shot.

[Lord batchi ball]

the fact that it was challange to try and fit a new story in without it being forced....

Exactly!!!

[The Prophet]

I am more interest in how they going to reverse engineer a vaccine from someone blood, presuming they even got a other viral and vaccine expert laying around somewhere, develop it into a gas form, really you do not want to go around injecting these guys one by one now do you and design and build a global dispersal system to disperse it around the world to billions of people and cool all their body temperatures down for the vaccine to work. But that's just me.

Who says they have to be cured?

[knowles2]

Who says they have to be cured?

Me, and that good enough.

[AvatarIII]

Who says they have to be cured?

that's a good point

Spoiler:

in the book the vampires wipe out humanity then start to rubuild society, however in the movie the vampires are more zombie-like and not sentient like in the book