The title for today's column is mean to work two-fold. The Will Smith vehicle I Am Legend opened to huge business this weekend (the biggest December opening ever, topping the final Lord of the Rings film, and the biggest of Smith's financially prodigious career), bringing in $77 million from 3,606 theaters for an equally impressive $21k average. Believe me, there were plenty of sold out multiplexes this weekend.
I actually saw I Am Legend as well, and there are a great many things to recommend it, including what might be the best performance of Will Smith's career, and I'm a fan of his. As it happens, though, I'm also a big fan of the novel on which the film is based, by Twilight Zone scribe Richard Matheson, and for everything Smith and director Fancis Lawrence get right, that they could not reproduce the book's final act and instead went out on a more uplifting note is selling out of the worst kind.
I'll try to keep my comments relatively spoiler-free, but we'll certainly get into the ending of the book and the film's deviation from it, so if that's something you anticipate reading, skip down to my derisive comments on Alvin and the Chipmunks or risk ruining of the great pleasures genre fiction has to offer. And make no mistake, the unfolding of I Am Legend as written by Matheson belongs in this category.
In case anyone is unfamiliar with the general outlines of both the book and film, Robert Neville is the last survivor on Earth after a plague destroys most of humanity, but leaves a few million flesh eating monsters (more akin to vampires in the novel) roaming the desolate streets at night and sleeping in civilization's dark corners during the day. Near the end of the book, Neville encounters a woman out during the day. He believes that she is a survivor and takes her home. In fact, the virus has mutated, and she is also a vampire, albeit one that is not sensitive to sunlight and can pass for a normal person.
He's captured by this new breed of vampire, and held for execution. As he's waiting, he can see the vampires through the window, and realizes that they are afraid of him. He's been the one stealing into their rooms at night and slaughtering them. To them, he is the monster. The vampire. And long after he's gone, they'll still tell stories about this thing they're so afraid of. He is legend.
It's a brilliant reversal, certainly the equal of Matheson's best Twilight Zone creations (my personal favorite being Nightmare at 20,000 Feet with a young William Shatner). The movie chooses not to adopt this ending, opting instead for something a little more optimistic.
I had read two different drafts of the script years ago, both of which opted for even sunnier endings than the one presented in the film, and understood why the project had floundered in development for so long (at one point, Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached, as were Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe). The story is a huge undertaking if done correctly, and the budget for this incarnation, following The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price, and The Omega Man with Charlton Heston, is rumored to cost around $150 million. And if you're the exec writing that check, such an ambiguous ending would, at the very least, give me pause. And five years ago, when I first read the book, I would have called any change to the story to give it a more upbeat ending nothing less than cowardly. In fact, I am calling it cowardly.
But after paying attention to the industry for so long, and the box office in particular, I would at least say that I understand why they did what they did. The fact is, for better or worse, audiences are more likely to turn out for a film that lets them walk out certain of where they stand, and if not happy (for most of humanity is still dead at the end of the film), at least at ease. And Matheson's ending is brilliant, but unnerving. I understand that Smith and screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldsman fought with the studio to make the script more like Matheson's story, and what finally found it's way onto the screen is clearly a compromise.
Comments (9)
Thanks for the section on the Hollywood Life Breakthrough Awards as I am an awards nut!
They did choose some fine actors to present the awards to as well which is always nice. As for Edgar Ramirez...I did say "who?"...LOL.
Can't believe Alvin and the Chipmunks brought in that much moola :( AQnd I am still shocked that The Golden Compass is bombing - how is it doing overseas...is it making any money elsewhere?
1 of 9 | Posted by moasey | Posted on December 18, 2007 1:35 PM
Superbad actor Michael Cera...not Sera
2 of 9 | Posted by kippy | Posted on December 18, 2007 2:01 PM
The Golden Compass is actually doing relatively well everywhere but the U.S. aaaand for the record, I think it'll take more than 1 or 2 not such great box office openings to knock Nic off the A-List.
3 of 9 | Posted by hollagirl2 | Posted on December 18, 2007 3:55 PM
Wow, thanks for the comments, everyone. Hollagirl is correct that Golden Compass is doing well overseas ($90 million so far), so it's very much like King Arthur a few years ago, which did just $51 million domestic but $150 overseas. But with such a high budget, not to mention prints and and advertising, New Line execs will still be hard pressed to greenlight a sequel. And I think it hurts Nicole no matter what that American audiences aren't paying to see her in anything lately. Kippy, thanks for the correction.
I'd love to hear from anyone on I Am Legend. Agree, disagree?
4 of 9 | Posted by sutterkane | Posted on December 19, 2007 9:48 AM
This is really irritating...
"it's" = it is.
"its" = possessive.
Therefore...
"its" second week
"its" Oscar chances.
May be nitpicking to some, but if one is a public writer, one should write well.
Thanks.
Also, whoever put "section's" instead of "sections" for the different page jumps, there's no apostrophe.
5 of 9 | Posted by killbondnow | Posted on December 19, 2007 2:59 PM
WOW.... weve got apostrophe police in the comment section. Its about time......Ive seen so many punctuation error on this site, its time someone called these people on it. Ill do my best to proof-red what Ive posted.... thanks to you killbondnow.
Great reviews this week Sutter. I was wondering if "I Am Legend" was good. The CGI in the trailer looked a little lame. Glad to hear you liked it in spite of that.
I heard "Alvin" sucked, which disappointed me. It was one of my favorite childhood cartoons.
6 of 9 | Posted by chooch850 | Posted on December 19, 2007 4:23 PM
hey sutterkane, love you columns, read them every week without fail. Your better than any other so-called "professional" box office trackers out there. aaanways....
while its true that The Golden Compass is doing very well overseas, (which is good for Kidman And Craig mostly) it still won't help New Line. They had to sell the distribution rights to company's overseas in order to cover the mass budget and advertising of the movie :S rough
And i really hope that Kidman will be able to keep her place on the A list, i think she deserves it. I think she should lay low with some low-budget movies like "Margot at the Wedding" so if they flop it won't hurt her career as bad as a flop like Invasion, and if it does well she can only go up. I recently fell (back) in love with Moulin Rouge so i'm keeping my fingers crossed for her.
And as for the Young Hollywood Awards, i really think the snubbed Nikki Blonsky and Elijah Kelly from Hairspray. Unless they didnt and you just didnt mention them.
7 of 9 | Posted by travi360 | Posted on December 19, 2007 10:54 PM
Hey everyone,
Just want to apologize for the bad punctuation and what not. I do my own proofreading, and I realize that it's spotty at best on a regular basis. But I was fighting the flu while writing this one in particular, and could only keep my eyes open to check about half of it before posting. You make a good point killbondnow, and I'll try to be more careful in the future.
8 of 9 | Posted by sutterkane | Posted on December 20, 2007 3:50 PM
The Golden Compass was not viewed by many families due to the anti-God status of the writer. We are looking forward to the next Narnia film. I received an email about the anti-God status of the Golden Compass from parents from our public school.
9 of 9 | Posted by wincha | Posted on December 31, 2007 12:03 AM