I have not read the book, so I can't be disappointed by the movie.
Regardless it looks like this movie is doing record breaking business at the box office.
I'll still probably wait for the DVD....
For anyone interested here are the numbers:
Will Smith Can Now Say 'I Am Legend': $30M Friday Debut & $80M Weekend! 'Chipmunks' Open To Cheeky $40M Wkd
SATURDAY AM: Some amazing numbers were posted Friday for this weekend's No. 1 and No. 2 movie releases. Warner Bros'
I Am Legend opens closer to
$80 million than the studio's hoped-for $50 million from Friday through Sunday after making a whopping $29.6 million Friday in 3,606 theaters for first place. This more than demonstrates that Will Smith is now the biggest U.S. box office stud bar none and breaks his previous opening record (
I Robot's $62 mil in summer). This also will easily be the
biggest December movie opening ever. Not only did
I Am Legend soar past the numbers for
King Kong's and
Narnia's December debuts, but it looks likely to pass all three of the
Lord Of the Rings trilogy's Christmas-timed openings as well, including
Return Of The King's record-setting $72.6 mil.) The humongous hit is a badly needed life preserver for Warner Bros' drowning movie division, which I'm told didn't even have time to do a research screening on the film since it came in so late.
I won't have exit polling until tomorrow, but Smith is one of the few, if not only, Hollywood stars right now who tracks extremely well with both African-American and Hispanic audiences as well as whites. That accounts for why
I Am Legend's numbers went through the roof even though its "last man on earth who's not alone" subject matter is a downer. (Charlton Heston starred in
The Omega Man, a 1971 adaptation of
I Am Legend, the post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Matheson.) "But put Will Smith into it, and it really changes the equation," a Warner Bros source told me. "It's definitely tracking four quadrant." I'm told the movie played broadly -- almost equally male/female, under age 25/over 25, ethnic/non-ethnic -- and playability was strong with all audiences being at or above the norms with males slightly stronger than females. That was evident even going into Friday, I was told, when the PG-13 thriller had definite interest among young males (74%), older males (67%), young females (56%) and older females (49%). The only question now is whether the East Coast storms will affect Saturday and Sunday turnout there, prompting one Warner exec to rue not having a degree in meteorology.
Deadline Hollywood Daily » Will Smith Can Now Say ‘I Am Legend’: $30M Friday Debut & $80M Weekend! ‘Chipmunks’ Open To Cheeky $40M Wkd