Hmmmm…Didn’t the end of the theatrical version of I Am Legend result in Will Smith being blown to hell by his own grenade? Oh…. uhh… Spoiler alert?

A source of Ain’t It Cool News provided them with an interesting possible update to the status of the next I Am Legend film. It was originally thought to be a prequel for the obvious reason that Will Smith’s character, Robert Neville, died at the end of the film.

I guess studios will stop at nothing to make a franchise out of something – whether it be prequels, sequels, reboots, etc. In this case though, the source for AICN has yet to be tested so this could all be mumbo jumbo.

Interestingly enough, the alternate ending of I Am Legend (which was far better in my opinion) that came along on the DVD has Neville living while paying tribute to earlier scenes and plot points of the film. Had that been the theatrically released ending, this quote from the source would make more sense:

“Let’s start at the beginning. 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. For months this was the story. Warner’s didn’t much care for it and Smith and Weiss eventually came on board and all parties agreed to change things up. Well this change is pretty insane, the film is no longer a prequel, it’s a [insert profanity here] sequel!”

Weiss refers to D.B. Weiss who is reportedly writing the script for the next installment. Will Smith was also apparently involved in the next flick so can they spin this and pretend the alternate ending was the real ending? Maybe he’s not that involved and/or won’t be if it’s a sequel…

What do you think of a sequel? What did you think of a prequel? Is this as confusing to you as it is to me?

Source: Ain’t It Cool News

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Hollywood loves a franchise. We get it!

But that does not mean that you make a sequel/prequel to every film – even films that don’t deserve it!

The Will Smith-starring I Am Legend was a stand-alone film, based on the wonderful novel by Richard Matheson. Now it would appear that the film made so much money that a prequel is in order.

Be warned SPOILERS FOLLOW about I Am Legend so if you haven’t seen it yet…

Last chance!

Spoilers

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Will Smith bloody dies in the film - and the movie told us about the events that took place before the film’s main narrative. So why on earth make a frickin’ prequel?

Cash-money, that’s why.

Considering that Smith bit the big one at the end of the original, a prequel is the only way that the A-list star can return.

D.B Weiss is scripting based on an idea by Smith, Akiva Goldsman, James Lassiter and Francis Lawrence.

Do yourself a favor – skip this cash grabbing follow-up and buy Charlton Heston’s Omega Man and Vincent Price’s The Last Man on Earth instead!

What will it be called?  I Will Be Legend?

Source: Variety

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Oh, I can’t stand the suspense! This week, the 34th annual Saturn Awards handed out their usual fare of achievement recognizing statues.

In the event you aren’t aware of what they are, the Saturn Awards are the honors handed out by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. The Academy has been delivering their awards for over thirty years and they look to recognize cinematic achievement.

It’s a recognized validation of the genre we so fervently appreciate.

Some of the more noteworthy recipients of the awards:

Walt Disney Studios picked up three awards, ABC’s Lost snagged four awards, and 300 picked up 2 awards.

More specifically, some of the categories that caught my eye were:
Best Science Fiction Film: Cloverfield
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film: 300
Best Actor: Will Smith (I Am Legend)
Best Special Effects: Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, John Frazier (Transformers)
Best Network Television Series: Lost
Best Syndicated / Cable Television Series: Dexter
Best Supporting Actress on Television: (TIE): Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
/ Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost)

The complete list of winners for the 34th Annual Saturn Awards including the above:

Best Science Fiction Film: Cloverfield
Best Fantasy Film: Enchanted
Best Horror Film: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet St.
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film: 300
Best Actor: Will Smith (I Am Legend)
Best Actress: Amy Adams (Enchanted)
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
Best Supporting Actress: Marcia Gay Harden (The Mist)
Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Freddie Highmore (August Rush)
Best Direction: Zack Snyder (300)
Best Writing: Brad Bird (Ratatouille)
Best Music: Alan Menken (Enchanted)
Best Costume: Colleen Atwood (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet St.)
Best Make-Up: Ve Neill, Martin Samuel (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)
Best Special Effects: Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, John Frazier (Transformers)
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille
Best International Film: Eastern Promises
Best Network Television Series: Lost
Best Syndicated / Cable Television Series: Dexter
Best Presentation on Television: Family Guy: Blue Harvest
Best International Television Series: Doctor Who: Sci Fi Channel
Best Actor on Television: Matthew Fox (Lost)
Best Actress on Television: Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer)
Best Supporting Actor on Television: Michael Emerson (Lost)
Best Supporting Actress on Television: (TIE): Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) / Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost)
Best DVD Release: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (remix)
Best DVD Special Edition Release: Blade Runner (5 Disc Ultimate Edition)
Best DVD Classic Film Release: The Monster Squad
Best DVD Collection: Mario Bava (Box Sets 1 & 2)
Best Television Series Release on DVD: Heroes (Season 1)
Best Retro Television Series Release on DVD: Twin Peaks (Definitive Gold Box Ed.)
The Life Career Award: Robert Halmi, Sr.
The Life Career Award: Robert Halmi, Jr.
The George Pal Memorial Award: Guillermo del Toro
The Filmmakers Showcase Award: Matt Reeves
The Special Achievement Award: Tim & Donna Lucas
The Service Award: Fred Barton

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I don’t know how long this alternate ending to I Am Legend will last but if you get a chance, you should watch it if you’ve seen the movie. This ending is IMHO far superior to the abrupt version in the theatrical release, and fits in better with something that happens in the film about midway through.

I didn’t post this up earlier because it was only available on YouTube, and videos of this sort get yanked pretty quickly and them I’m left with a useless post.

GameTrailers.com has a version which I’ve embedded below, which will hopefully hang around a bit longer.

At one point in the movie when Will Smith’s character took the lead zombie’s mate away from them, the zombie reacted with extreme rage, indicating that there was some vestige of humanity left in them. But throughout the rest of the movie we never saw any more hint of that, which felt “unfinished” to me.

Well this clip addresses that very nicely, plus doesn’t have that nihilistic ending with Will Smith dying. I don’t know why they didn’t go with this ending… maybe they thought it was too cliched for Will Smith to survive – but in this case I think it would only have made the film better.

Source: GameTrailers.com

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I don’t generally do box office posts but I thought I would this week for a few reasons.

First, I Am Legend is heading for a monster opening at about $76 million. I wonder how much of that box office number is attributable to the trailer for The Dark Knight and the six minute prologue in the IMAX version?

Second, last week I predicted that The Golden Compass would bring in about $11 million this weekend. It looks like I was a bit optimistic because it’s on track for earning just over $9 million. It’s also earning more overseas than here in the U.S. as I also predicted.

Finally, if you can believe it… Alvin and the Chipmunks brought in $45 million on this, it’s opening weekend. That’s more than 70% higher than Compass did last weekend. Ouch.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Parents are hungry for movies they can bring their under 10 year old kids to without having to worry about inappropriate content or language. If this isn’t evidence of that, I don’t know what is.

Source: BoxOfficeMojo

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By Vic Holtreman

Short version: Despite a few problems, Will Smith makes this update of The Omega Man work.

The plot of I Am Legend is pretty obvious from the trailers and commercials, so it’s not so much about surprises and plot twists as much as it’s about experiencing what Will Smith’s character goes through. At this, the movie succeeds very well.

I Am Legend is the story of a viral cure for cancer gone horribly wrong. As the film opens we see a television interview with a scientist who has succeeded in modifying a deadly virus so that it cures disease instead of causing it. The initial reports are extremely encouraging, with thousands of cases of cancer completely cured.

Of course we know what the final outcome will be and watching that news segment will cause you to cringe in your seat.

The film then jumps to three years later as we see Will Smith as Robert Neville, the survivor of a virus that has wiped out most of the population on Earth driving the streets of an empty and overgrown New York City (I couldn’t help thinking that this was a radical environmentalist’s dream come true). Seeing this vista on the gigantic IMAX screen sucks you into the movie completely, making you feel like you’re right there.

His days seem to be all about survival: Hunting for deer that now run free through the city, scavenging for food and supplies for him and his dog Sam, and staying physically fit. Eventually we learn that he was a high ranking military man who was somehow involved in causing the catastrophe and is obsessed with fixing it.

Throughout the film we are shown flashbacks taking us to the final minutes before the island of Manhattan is cut off and quarantined. It seems that NYC was ground zero for this pandemic and Neville is determined to stay there and find a way to stop it before it gets out of control. He tries to get his wife and young daughter off the island before it’s completely quarantined. These scenes are very compelling and give us a lot of insight into both his character and his pain. All of this is great stuff and quite riveting.

Eventually though we must be introduced to the creepy victims of this disease who have survived as mutated creatures, and slowly the film shifts gears into something that by the end, is a typical action/monster movie. I thought it was effective when there were just a few creatures shown, but by the end when hundreds of them appear it seemed like I was watching a different movie. It was still good, but not as great as the first half.

Another thing that felt kind of off-center was how Neville interacted with some mannequins that he set up at a local video rental store that he frequented. I can understand how after three years he might do that for at least some semblance of other humanity being around, but the way he reacted to one female mannequin in particular was a bit too strange. It made him seem like he had really gone off the deep end, yet he was still sane enough to survive and to continue research on a cure for the disease.

There was also another instance where he totally misinterpreted the reaction of one of the creatures when he had captured another. I thought the meaning of the reaction was blatantly obvious but he assumed something completely opposite, with big consequences down the line.

As to the complaints about the CGI in the film, I thought the deer looked great. I did feel that the mutated humans looked a bit too “videogame-ish” for the overall tone of the film, but it wasn’t enough to ruin the whole thing for me.

I have heard that there were last minute re-shoots on the film to change the ending and I’m hoping that when the DVD is released that they include the original one. I’m curious to see how they were going to end it and to see if it would have worked better.

Despite the issues I mention above, overall I Am Legend is still really enjoyable and well worth checking out, especially on the giant IMAX screen.

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It’s raining I Am Legend trailers today. There’s a new U.S. version and a new international trailer for the movie. While I liked the first U.S. trailer, this new on is IMHO pretty damned boring. On the other hand, the international trailer really makes me want to see the movie.

The film opens mid-December, stars Will Smith and seems to be a twist on the old Sci Fi movie The Omega Man which starred Charlton Heston. Smith plays the last man left on Earth after some sort of catastrophe wipes out everyone else. Of course he’s not really alone… eventually some rather creepy characters start showing up, no doubt mutated by whatever happened, and they look suspiciously like vampires to me.

I’m actually very interested in seeing this for a few reasons:

1. Sue me, but I’m a big fan of Will Smith.

2. The concept is interesting to me, and based on the first trailer it looks to be quite well done.

3. They’re releasing an IMAX version of the movie.

4. They’re attaching the first 5-7 minutes of The Dark Knight to the IMAX version of the film.

First we have the new U.S. version of the trailer, which up until about the last 5 seconds just about put me to sleep: