It was big news that I Am Legend went through a series of reshoots. One of the big changes was the film's ending, which was reshot to give the film a more commercial conclusion. The special edition DVD hits store shelves on March 18th, for such a new released Blu-ray is only $19, the widescreen version for $14 on sale

http://www.dealstudio.com/viewtopic.php?t=37240&ru=290

and the alternative ending has been leaked onto YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z-FNprXQ4k

I'd be interested to hear what you guys think, so please post your thoughts. I feel that this is a much better conclusion, aside from the voiceover driving sequence which book ends the footage.

I dunno if this thread was supposed to be a joke (your link obviously isn't from the movie), but THE ACTUAL alternate ending does indeed suck monkey butt. They took a "Land of the Dead" approach and gave the monsters a heart and soul. STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! The original ending might not satisfy alotta folks, but it's definetly better than this one!

I'd like to know what made it so controversial. It's not like anyone said the end of "Land of the Dead" was controversial and it was basically the same thing. The only difference was they actually tacked that awful ending onto "Land..."!

NOTE: I only wanted it on record that the alt. ending isn't even worth watching. It's as crappy as the theatrical ending of "The Butterfly Effect"!

I know this thread it a little old, but...

I'm gonna have to disagree with you there, Monkey_Boy. I think the alternate ending fit a lot better with some of the moments presented earlier in the film that suggested that the monsters were not totally void of humanity and thought. The scene where the creatures apparenty moved the mannequin to lure Robert into his own trap comes to mind, the anger that the "lead monster" expressed upon the capture of his baby mama, and their elevated aggression after the fact. Robert was a legend among them in this respect. A "myth." We tell tales about vampires and werewolves but in this world Robert was the monster because he was the one who hunted them. I particularly appreciated the scene near the end where the monster screams at Robert, he backs away, goes out of focus and the camera shows his wall with photographs of the monsters he's killed, as if he were some type of serial killer. His "I'm sorry" may have been void of subtlety, but I'll take it. I see it as different from Land of the Dead because in Romero's film the sides were more or less in an even playing field with open interpretation of who were truly the bad guys. In the alternate version of I Am Legend Robert Neville began as the good guy and the script was flipped by the lab scene. I would've been pleasantly surprised to see this unconventional blockbuster approach upon my first viewing.

Ya know, I actually agree with you! I wrote that after I had first bought the DVD and had seen the alternate ending which seemed outta place in a monster movie (which is why I compared it to "Land..."). However, I ended up watching the alternate version with my mother and after the end, I showed her the original theatrical ending and she came up with the exact same points you did! Not to say I didn't ask myself who set the trap if these guys really were mindless brutes, but I like "explosive endings" and was able to overlook that little plothole. But you're right!