I Am Legend 2: Will Smith's Sequel Rejection Makes His Return Even Better
Will Smith's previous sequel rejection makes his return for I Am Legend 2 even better. The original I Am Legend was a massive success, opening at a record-breaking $77 million domestically and $585 million globally for its 2007 release. Yet despite such success, Smith was not interested in making a sequel for a very long time.
Adapted from Richard Matheson's sci-fi book, I Am Legend followed scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith), who survived a plague that wiped out most of the population. Those who did not die were instead turned into monsters similar to vampires or zombies, for which Robert was desperately trying to find a cure. I Am Legend was a standalone story, which could have been why Smith felt no need to revisit it in the past, but Michael B. Jordan has since convinced him otherwise.
Related: I Am Legend’s Biggest Change From The Book Broke The Movie
Will Smith's past rejection of I Am Legend 2 makes his return for Michael B. Jordan's story idea even better. The studio had been wanting to make a sequel to I Am Legend ever since the original's release, but Smith previously had no intention of ever coming back. He said in an interview, “It was one of those ones I was gonna leave alone, and then I heard the idea.” Jordan was a part of the pitch that finally changed Smith's mind, which speaks to the strength of his story concept if it was able to entice Smith to come back to a project 15 years later. Smith's return for I Am Legend 2 shows that the movie is more than just a cash-grab, but something he is actually excited about, suggesting that there really is a good story there he wants to help tell.
Hollywood's tendency to produce sequels for successful movies just because they can could've also been part of the
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