Sunday 4 May 2008

Last Airbender Movie in 2010

A few years ago the Cartoon TV network Nickelodeon started to broadcast a new animate TV sho titled 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' (also known as 'Avatar: The Legend of Aang' in several countries). It has since been a real success winning both critics' appraisal and public acclaim.

So no wonder that Hollywood is already working on a live-action trilogy adaptation. The project is tackled by Director M. Night Shyamalan who has been introduced to the show by his own daughter who is a dedicated fan of Aang's adventures.

But a dispute with James Cameron's film Avatar regarding title ownership resulted in the first movie being titled The Last Airbender.

The Last Airbender is slated for a release in Summer 2010.

The Plot:
"The story follows the adventures of the successor to a long line of Avatars who must put aside his irresponsible ways and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations." (Source: IMDb)

If you are not yet familiar with Avatar the Last Airbender, then have a look to this opening of the TV show:


I suppose I have more free time on my hand than M. Night Shyamalan, because I did not wait for my children to tell me about the show. Yeap, actually my children get interested in the Last Airbender through me. No joking! :)

I am really glad to hear about this movie adaptation of Avatar The last Airbender. But I hope he won't be as disappointing as with The Happening, the last Shyamalan movie... I would be quite sad if he does not respect the original show and bring us a stupid B-movie....
:-/

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

In each generation, only one bender is solely capable of controlling all four elements. That bender is the Avatar. The Avatar is the spirit of the world manifests in human form. When the Avatar dies, it reincarnates into the next nation in the cycle.

Anonymous said...

The guy who's playing edward in the twilight movie is playing sokka

Anonymous said...

yes,yes we all know that!

Anonymous said...

I too hope that M. night gets this one right, the show is very, very good and I would hope that if his daughter likes the show that he would put time and work into making this just as good, if not better.

Nephi said...

I have no doubt whatsoever that this trilogy is going to be phenomenal...There are so many things to say about this upcoming movie, but I'll only say one; I hear that the teaser trailer for the last airbender is coming out in the Transformers sequel!!! I can't wait to watch this, so I guess I'll have to deal with x-men and star trek until then. M. Night, I am your biggest fan and one day I hope to meet you and possibly work with you
-NNN

Anonymous said...

sorry anonymous, hate to burst your bubble, but it is Not rob pattinson who is playing sokka, it is Jackson Rathbone. get it right. and rock on! Hope this movie is awesome!!

Anonymous said...

Noooo! I have serious concerns about M. Night Shyamalan. Mostly that his last few movies have been terrible and I don't want him to ruin my favorite anime. Avatar deserves an epic production.

Furthermore, there better not be a bunch of white people cast in this movie. It's supposed to be multi-ethnic teenagers.

Anonymous said...

i really hope m.night makes this movie great.... bcos all his movies have been a big flop..
i hope he doesn't spoil the avatar saga...

Moose the Younger said...

I understand why everyone has reservations about M. Night directing; however, I have to point out that his Directing style is perfect for this... It was his Writing that did his past few movies in. With Avatar:LAB he may be providing Screenwriting, but the source material is NOT his. Which is why I have greater confidence that he will be able to focus primarily on Directing and do Avatar the justice it deserves.

As for the multi-ethnic background, I like what they appear to be doing so far - assuming they aren't given a makeover for the role.

Earth = Oriental
Air = Aang, looks like a mix.*
Water = Northern European
Fire = Persian/Latino

Ok, this is different from the intended representations; however, logically this makes the Nations more readily distinguishable on the big screen. However, if correct, it will make one part of the story difficult to explain - Zuko and Uncle Iroh living/hiding among the Earth Nation in Ba Sing Se.

*Its a shame David Carredine has passed. He would have made an excellent Avatar Roku in my mind, even if it were only a cameo.

Looking forward to the Trailer.

Anonymous said...

I am a huge avatar fan and i'm 24. I am a little worried about M. Night Shyamalan directing this he has the potential to do something that would be great but I have seen some of his movies that have potential and then end up mediocre.
I just can wait to see all the visual effects they used for these movies. I have high expectations and they better be met.

Anonymous said...

Guys honestly quit worrying about m. night! Gees He is working with the guys who came up with the show. so if their is anyone to blame if the movie goes south, blame the guys who created the Avatar. They are the ones he is looking at to get a general idea of what to put in and leave out... Anyway even if he put everything in it would be a 7 hour movie.No one is going to watch a seven hour movie. This is going to be a 2 hour movie so something has to be left out.

Troy said...

Seeing the trailer for the movie, hope floats that the movie might do the series justice... at least as far as special effects are concerned. :-)

Still far too many levels to possibly disappoint the multitudes of fans though.

Anonymous said...

I'm seriously worried about M. Night. I haven't seen any of his movies, but I really was expecting the movie to be in anime. :( The guy they hired to play Aang is totally unfit for the role. >/ I think I won't even watch the movie because I'm afraid it will lower my satisfaction in the original series.

Anonymous said...

This is awful. Did anyone even see the kid they got for Zuko? no. just no. And no offense to M. Night, but I still have some reservations. I'm 19, and I love this series so much. For an American anime, it is amazing. Making a live-action adaptation is such a horrible mistake and is going to ruin it. They've already destroyed so many others, ESPECIALLY Harry Potter (even if that is a book series rather than a cartoon series). Do they really have to violate Avatar, too?

and anonymous before Troy, I understand what your saying, but, if you've seen any other film adaptations, you should know that as well as necessary cuts, pointless changes and cuts are ALWAYS, without exception, made, many of which ruin at least some aspects of the original, if not the entire movie.

I may boycott the movie altogether for fear it would upset me more to see it than ignore it.

Bryant said...

BOO M. Night Shyamalan is going to make this into something worse than a B movie. He is making an anime into a live action movie. He is going to destroy the series. How can the creators let this happen?

Anonymous said...

ok i have watched all of the avatar series and i have to say that they have not stuck to the plat of the story at all, its even worse then twilight was and i walked out of that move. i have heard all about the the plot and how is differs from one of the best animes ever created.Who ever came up with the has little respect for the origional story. i also understarnd that they could not make in series into just one movie, they could have taken key elements from it and done that, personally i think they just should have made the last few chapters od the seriesinto a longer movie, i think many of the fan would have enjoyed that.

destintempura said...

The main thing that concerns me is the character casting! When I saw the beginning of the trailer in the theater I knew right away what it was! I was so excited to see that they decided to bring it to the big screen. Then the kid pulled his hood off, it is not a blue arrow!
Then later I saw who was playing Zuko! He does not physically portray that charter in anyway. It seems like they rushed to pick the actors instead of taking their time to find the right people who not only can act, but look like characters.
This movie is not going to do well because when you take a series like this and put to the big screen it is very important to maintain the physical likeness of each charter. You are bringing something that is not real to life. So far what I have seen is disappointing!

Unknown said...

M. Night Shyamalan may not screw up this movie just like he screw up his last two movies he produce because by personal experience I notice that when M. Night works in conjunction with other people a spark of talent actually seems to show and light his brain but his last two movies specially lady in the water are less then b rated more like d- and thats being generous.

Anonymous said...

No, the guy playing "Jasper" in Twilight is playing Sokka.>>>>>


I'm pretty disappointed in the casting. Avatar came out when I was nine and I was a Die Hard fan throughout the entire series. I of course was truly heartbroken when the show ended. I had always told myself i would never be an anime show nerd- Until I saw that first episode...Then I was as obsessed as Pokemon or Dragon Ball (or whatever they are called [like I said-Not an anime fan until Avatar])fan! I think that the people chastising us for our disappointment and criticism just don't understand why we are getting so worked up because they aren't fans like us. It's not just about race- Aang's tattoo isn't blue, The Fire Nation armor isn't red, the Water Tribe clothes aren't blue, Zuko's scar isn't very noticeable, and Katara doesn't have hair loopies! << :( Of course they won't notice those things, but we do. All of us Die hard fans were devastated at the end of the series and when we learned that we could live the dream again, all of those screw-ups were like a huge slap in the face to us! Then there's the race issue coming in also. Zuko-One of the Whitest guys in the show- is the darkest! Katara and Sokka are white rather than darker, and Aang looks way too serious for his age. In the show he is lighthearted and really goofy! That kid is all dark and annoying. Not to mention it looks like Katara is too old and Aang is too young- Making the future relationship between them -sorry about the spoiler- really creepy! How's that girl going to kiss that little boy??? Sorry if I'm just rambling and making no sense, but I'm pretty upset about it all. The other Die Hard fans and I can only hope that the actors will at least really be able to capture the character's personalities, persona's, and histories.

P.S. Toph didn't come in until the second book; therefore she won't be in the first movie. She will be in the second and third.

P.S.S. It wouldn't make sense to have a cartoon movie or it would be just like the show only shorter with less details. (For those complaining about that)

P.S.S.S. At least the special effects look phenomenal! :D I am curious to see how they are going to put Appa on the screen- As well as Momo! XD

mikeysammichez said...

i agree with one poster who says there might be some hope found in the fact that m. night is working with the original creators. i do have mixed feelings about having a live action re-make of the cartoon but i'm still eager to see how it's done. the good news is, avatar was created for kids, so i think it'd be pretty tough for m. night to dumb it down from there. i hope.

Anonymous said...

did anyone notice that Toph isnt going to be in the movie?!?!?!