At one point following the critical and commercial success of his 2007 post-apocalyptic blockbuster I Am Legend, director Francis Lawrence entertained the notion of coming back with star Will Smith for prequel, but eventually that possibility trailed off and Lawrence casted doubt onto his involvement with the potential project. But today Warner Bros. announced a deal with Akiva Goldsman and Overbrook Entertainment, who have tapped screenwriter Arash Amel to write a follow-up to the $584M hit. Whether or not it'll be a prequel or some sort of direct sequel is unknown, though it's reportedly being created for Smith. Let's speculate away: Just how WB can possibly pull off another installment?

What makes the project a curious -- and, frankly, conspicuous -- one is the way in which Lawrence wrapped up I Am Legend, based on Richard Matheson's 1954 sci-fi novel. [Spoiler alert] Following a global pandemic that wiped out 90% of the world's population, scientist Robert Neville (Smith) had only just discovered a cure when, at the film's conclusion, he faced an onslaught of mutated vampire-people solo and seemingly met his own demise.

Of course WB wants their star and his famously potent box office draw to headline another I Am Legend movie. A prequel would explain Smith's presence most easily, but Deadline suggests that won't be the case. So how might they bring Smith back otherwise? Retcon the last scene in the first film, using the alternate ending in which Neville makes grudging peace with the vampire thingies? Maybe the survivors colony has cloning capabilities? Hell, why not bring in a long-lost twin brother for Neville who became a brilliant virologist as well - I Am Also Legend?

Whatever it turns out to be, at least it has a shot at being "one of the greatest movies ever made," amirite?

早在2008年，關(guān)于《我是傳奇》籌拍前傳的消息便引起了人們的關(guān)注，但此后卻銷聲匿跡沒(méi)了下文，而去年5月導(dǎo)演弗朗西斯·勞倫斯更是出面表態(tài)，“《我是傳奇前傳》已胎死腹中”（回顧詳情）；不過(guò)今天終于迎來(lái)了利好消息，華納兄弟已與阿齊瓦·高斯曼和Overbrook娛樂(lè)達(dá)成協(xié)議，將共同續(xù)寫(xiě)《我是傳奇》的新篇章。

目前華納已找來(lái)《摩納哥的格蕾絲》的編劇Arash Amel撰寫(xiě)劇本，而主演威爾·史密斯是否回歸也取決于最終完成的劇本；不過(guò)需要指出的是，與此前明確了影片的前傳性質(zhì)不同，此次華納并未把影片定義為前傳或是續(xù)集，不過(guò)鑒于第一集最后的結(jié)局，如果不拍前傳的話，除非影片重啟一個(gè)全新的故事，否則很難令人信服地讓史密斯回歸。對(duì)于這一難點(diǎn)，華納唯一的可行選擇或許便是借鑒與《我是傳奇》同齡 的《300勇士》的傳統(tǒng)做法——拍攝《300勇士前傳：阿提米西亞之戰(zhàn)》。此外截至目前，對(duì)于影片已經(jīng)個(gè)人宣判過(guò)死刑的導(dǎo)演勞倫斯尚未對(duì)華納此舉做出回應(yīng)，所以最終他能否繼續(xù)執(zhí)導(dǎo)也還是個(gè)未知數(shù)。?