I Am Legend is a
2007 post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by
Francis Lawrence and starring
Will Smith. It is the third feature film adaptation of
Richard Matheson's 1954
novel of the same name, following 1964's
The Last Man on Earth and 1971's
The Omega Man.
[Before I Am Legend's release in cinemas in 2007, the direct-to-DVD I Am Omega was released by The Asylum to cash-in on the adaptation's potential success. ] Smith plays
virologist Robert Neville, who is immune to a vicious man-made
virus originally created to cure
cancer. He works to create a cure while living in Manhattan in 2012, a city inhabited by animalistic victims of the virus.
Warner Bros. began developing
I Am Legend in 1994, and various actors and directors were attached to the project, though production was delayed due to budgetary concerns related to the script. Production began in 2006 in
New York City, filming mainly on location in the city, including a $5 million scene
at the
Brooklyn Bridge, the most expensive scene ever filmed in the city at the time. Warner Bros. launched a tie-in comic and an online multiplayer game on
Second Life as part of its marketing campaign.
I Am Legend was released on December 14, 2007 in the United States. It opened to the largest ever
box office for a non-Christmas film released in the U.S. in December. The film's commercial success "cemented
[1] standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood."
