I am Legend 2 for 2010 - WTF?

[Darkwolf71]

Basically what everyone else said. I was refering to the reason the book is titled as it is. The recent movie completly changed the single most important element of the story and used the title anyway.

As I said, it wasn't a bad movie. They just shouldn't have used the name, as that implies some attempt at accuracy that just wasn't there.

It could have been called 'Will Smith is one bad ass dude: based on I Am Legend. and it would have been perfectly acceptable. Calling it I Am Legend, bad call. IMO of course.

 

[RigaMortus2]

I am sure it will probably be a prequel

 

[Hand of Evil]

spoiler:

Spoiler

Since he blew himself up along with several other nasties, I don't see how that is possible.

And the D&D answer...Did you see the body?

I just think this is wishful thinking on the part of Hollywood.

 

[Mistwell]

1) Didn't see the body;
2) Prequel;
3) No Wil Smith, and they just pick up where they left off - a small enclave of non-infected humans that have the cure, but an entire world to apply that cure to, one zombie-vampire at a time (or find a better way to disperse the cure);
4) No Wil Smith, they cure everyone, and now need to put the world back together like the Jericho TV Show.

 

[DonTadow]

Maybe its a sad reflection of society, but i don't think people go to the movie to see the next installment of the story. They either go simply because they saw the first one (an answer i've got plenty of times, and asking why just leads to an endless cycle) or they liked the characters. It's the only way I can explain how Matrix 3 made any money and sleep well at night.

I just don't think anyone cares about stories in the summer time.

 

[Mistwell]

Maybe its a sad reflection of society, but i don't think people go to the movie to see the next installment of the story. They either go simply because they saw the first one (an answer i've got plenty of times, and asking why just leads to an endless cycle) or they liked the characters. It's the only way I can explain how Matrix 3 made any money and sleep well at night.

I just don't think anyone cares about stories in the summer time.

I saw Matrix 3 because I liked the world they created, and wanted to see more of it. I also thought story-wise that they had built quite a difficult position for themselves with the plot, and wanted to see how they would manage to get themselves out of it (they didn't do it very well, but I wanted to see if they could do it well).

Going to see a sequel to a move just because you liked the first one is a perfectly legitimate reason. I buy books by authors because I like their other books, and I see movies by directors because I liked their last movie, and I watch shows with actors whose work I have liked in the past. I don't see any mystery in following something you like in it's next incarnation, whether it's a direct sequel or just an addition thing with the same creators or universe or characters involved.

 

[wakim]

Possibility

First off yes the book and movie are not a like at all, and frankly I don't care. It sucks that they use the name of this novel and the character names, while it is nothing a like, and yes it sucks that they haven't made a film that stays true to the novel, but the film is very good in my opinion (spectacular compared to everything else that is coming out anymore), and they are so different it is basically like 2 completely different stories, it would have bothered me more if they had tried to make them similar and then totally screwed it up. Anyway, a sequel could be possible if writers do things right. First they can't try to put Robert Neville into it somehow surviving or anything like that, even if they do some terrible flashback where it shows the alternate ending released on the DVD as being what really happened, and the original ending just being either a nightmare, or fleeting thought Neville had before he blew himself up. The trick would be just to forget Neville in the second movie, make the protagonist completely different from Neville in terms of motivation. For instance Neville was obsessed with a "cure", our new protagonist could be bent on revenge or extermination. The story won't be as good, but the action and intensity could be extremely enthralling. They could also introduce a whole second type of infected that are more like the dominant male from the original movie. More emotional, slightly less fearful of light, and more intelligent. Of course set it somewhere else. The ending could revolve around a group of survivors coming to the area to cure the infected and thus totally altering the entire scenario this protagonist has based his actions on. Also seeing those that he had tried to exterminate (and maybe even tortured), becoming cured sane individuals could drive him to insanity. I don't know its just an idea, but a better possibility than "oh wait Neville survived!" or replaying the whole plot just in a different city with a slightly different protagonist. One could also argue they could make a film from the perspective of the infected, it would be extremely disturbing, but may make for a good movie if done right.

 

[Aeolius]

...they could make a film from the perspective of the infected, it would be extremely disturbing, but may make for a good movie if done right.

That was going to be my answer as well. There is at least one infected character at the end the flick than is now more than her fellow rabid critters. Start part 2 with her.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I don't know how much more Last Man on Earth could be to parallel the actual book but hey, whatever floats his boat.

I'm sure the writer(s) of the movie realized this. They just decided to take the book and poop all over it.

It's a shame, but it seems like Matheson is never going to see a faithful adaptation of his book in his lifetime. If he wasn't bitter about it before (and he sure seemed to be), I'm sure he is now.

As for the spoiler-y thing Reveille mentioned, it didn't happen in the book and doesn't change the way the infected society saw Neville. Isn't the monster supposed to die at the end?

Anyway, it's a really good book. Well worth a read.

 

[Rackhir]

I don't know how much more Last Man on Earth could be to parallel the actual book but hey, whatever floats his boat.

IIRC, it didn't do the "I am Legend" speech from the novel and exactly how he died was fairly different. Arguably it followed the "Show don't tell" principle for movies, but the screenplay for "Last Man on Earth" was co-written by Richard Matheson, so it seems likely that the changes weren't something he was completely against. Still it was a GREAT speech and I would have liked to have seen it in the movie.

From what I've heard IAL2 is going to be a prequel.