I Am Legend scrapped its original ending because test audiences ‘felt cheated’ by the big twist

by Internal-Bed-3150

23 Comments

  1. Yeah I prefer the ending where he says *”So that’s it, huh? I guess I am legend”.*

  2. This one never made sense to me. It’s so obvious how the movie should have ended with the trapping scene, and then just nothing.

  3. Folks, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; democracy simply doesn’t work.

  4. UpperFrontalButtocks on

    They dumped the thoughtful ending and added a woman who wouldn’t shut up about “God’s plan”

  5. I can see why they scrapped it. It was a tiny bit more faithful to the book, and it also ended the film on a whimper. There are clips of it online, and the film just didn’t do enough to earn this story.

  6. Sorry_Sorry_Im_Sorry on

    Test screened a couple different movies in theaters and it’s often to have changes but not too common to release those changes online/bonus features.

    I.S.S. ended with >!them sitting on the space station and just watching earth burn while they drank while the theatrical release they got in a return pod but didn’t know where to land on earth to try to save it with a cure or something dumb.!<

    The Flash ended with >!Michael Keaton (Batman) stepping out of the limo and then Sasha Calle (Supergirl) floating down next to Barry when he was leaving the courthouse. Then there was a cancelled post credit scene where Ben Affleck is saying something along the lines of you screwed up the multiverse or you’re in the wrong timeline or something like that – can’t remember as it was way back in 2022. !<

  7. Classic book. Movie ending was ridiculous. Negates the whole narrative of the book.

  8. ICYMI it was based on a book if you want to see what the “true” ending is\was supposed to be. Or watch The Omega Man or The Last Man on Earth, both of which also diverge pretty heavily.

  9. DreadPirateGriswold on

    Let me guess? Original ending had Will Smith face off against the last zombie in the world and he slapped him? Just a guess…

  10. boywithapplesauce on

    Test screenings have resulted in many altered endings. Scott Pilgrim is another film whose ending got affected by those. I can’t recall other examples right now.

  11. And thus defeating the entire point of the movie.

    Even the title “I am legend” now makes no sense.

  12. This is one of the few books that I was shocked by how incredibly different the film was.

    The ending, the premise, the characters. The fact that SAM DOESNT EXIST IN THE BOOK! What the fuck?? That moment he calls her “Samantha”

    Sure there’s a dog there, for like a chapter, but that heartbreaking moment where Sam gets infected and he has to.. well.. not in the book.

  13. Man, I was so disappointed when this movie came out. I don’t know, I supposed it would be a little bit more faithful to the book.

    Maybe not beat by beat, but at least the core idea, which not even Omega Man hit home. But nope. It turned out to be a generic eer, action movie? Not sure if I even count it as a zombie movie.

    I don’t know. I’m fine with replacing vampires for something else. I’m fine with not having a female infected luring him in. But the bottom line, that in a world where everyone is infected and he is the only normal, he is actually the monster that stalks at night, that is the point of the entire story! At least do that!

  14. How the fuck is this news? It’s on the fucking DVD. Jesus fucking christ this movie is like 20 years old and the book is from the fucking 50s. What are we doing?

Leave A Reply