Streaming tonight: One of the best sci-fi films of the last 20 years – Cinema News

In 2007, before Francis Lawrence became the filmmaker behind The Hunger Games saga, he brought one of the best science fiction films of the last 20 years to the big screen. I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Richard Matheson. The film, available on 2 streaming services, is a landmark of the genre, a horror thriller, and an epic project set in a post-apocalyptic world.

I Am Legend follows Robert Neville, one of the most brilliant scientific minds of his time. But not even his ingenuity and authority could stop the greatest horror humanity has ever experienced: the spread of an artificial virus as relentless as it is incomprehensible.

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Robert and his dog are among the few survivors in the world, as Robert is immune to the virus. Now, his daily life consists of wandering through a ghostly New York, shrouded in silence and ruins. For years, he has been sending out radio signals in the hope that another human voice will respond.

Robert only leaves his house during the day, as the infected, hiding in the city’s buildings, cannot tolerate light. At night he turned his house into a fortress. With the fate of humanity on his shoulders, the protagonist has just one objective: to use his blood to try to neutralize the virus. His routine changes completely when a woman and a child appear at his house.

Ridley Scott’s version

Warner Bros.

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The idea of ​​bringing Matheson’s novel to the big screen began long before Smith and Lawrence were able to. In 1997, Ridley Scott was one of the filmmakers who spent years working on the film’s concept, but his vision never came to fruition.

And if there was a director developing the project, that means multiple actors were considered for the lead role. In the late 1990s, Smith wasn’t as well known, and at the time, Scott’s top choice was Arnold Schwarzenegger. The studio also considered Tom Cruise.

I Am Legend 2: The sequel with Michael B. Jordan

Warner Bros.

With a budget of $150 million, I Am Legend was a commercial success, grossing $585.4 million. Critical reception was somewhat lukewarm, but the film’s impact at the time was undeniable. So much so that a sequel is in development 17 years after the release of the first film.

In 2022, the new film was confirmed. Michael B. Jordan will join Will Smith in the sequel, and Akiva Goldsman, screenwriter of the original film, returns. Jordan will play the leader of a new settlement in Connecticut. Smith, meanwhile, will return as Robert. Although the character dies in the version shown in theaters, there is an alternative ending in which he survives. This ending did not make it into the final version of the film, but is now considered canon, as the sequel will use it to shape its story.

While the sequel does not have a release date, I Am Legend can be seen on HBO Max and Prime Video.