It seems many people are misremembering the plot of I Am Legend, so much so that it has sparked a conspiracy theory related to the COVID-19 Vaccine. According to an article from the New York Times, the movie has sparked concerns for some that those who take the vaccine will actually turn into zombies because they remember this happening in the film. Some also believe that the film was actually set in 2021, making the theory all the more “real.”
The entire conspiracy falls apart immediately when picked apart by any real fans of the film. First, the movie is about vampires (called darkseekers), not zombies. Secondly, the film is set in 2012 while the original novel it’s based on was set in the 1970s. Thirdly, in the movie, the vampirism is caused by a mutated “Krippin Virus” which was based on the measles virus (not COVID) and not by a vaccine at all. In fact, the main plot of the film involves Dr. Robert Neville, played by Will Smith, developing a vaccine for the virus.
Strangely, this is the second movie that people also mistook to be set in 2021, with Mad Max going viral with similar claims earlier this year. It will be interesting to see if any other movies end up being misremembered under similar circumstances.
Source: Snopes
