The Avatar Thread (The Last Airbender / Legend of Korra)

[Julius]

Been a while since there's been something to post here, but now there's something: there are three animated films now in the works!

Lauren Montgomery has also been confirmed to be directing the previously announced first film in the pipeline. 

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Paramount and Nickelodeon have announced that three new animated Avatar films are in development under the latter’s Avatar Studios banner. Lauren Montgomery (Avatar: The Last Airbender) is attached to direct the untitled first installment.

Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, who created the franchise-launching series Avatar: The Last Airbender for Nickelodeon, will produce alongside that show’s EP, Eric Coleman. Paramount Animations’s and Nickelodeon Animation’s EVP of Movies and Global Franchises, Latifa Ouaou, will oversee development on the first film, alongside Jason McConnell, who serves as Vice President of Animation at Nickelodeon Animation & Paramount Animation.

Montgomery is a veteran director, producer and storyboard artist who served in the latter capacity on the original Avatar series. Additional credits on the directing side include Voltron: Legendary Defender, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated and Young Justice.

“As original creators Mike and Bryan expand the Avatar universe with us, we’re keeping it all in the family with Lauren bringing the same kind of expert, beautiful work she did on the original series to her new directing duties on the forthcoming theatrical,” said Ramsey Naito, who serves as President of Animation & Development at Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation.

I'm sure we're going to be waiting a while before we see anything, so I'm just going to be here excitedly waiting until something happens 

[BowserBasher]

https://avatarnews.co/post/687354302251073536/paramount-and-avatar-studios-slate-of-animated

 

This seems to be pretty truthful in regards to the releases from what I have read. Three Avatar films coming

[Julius]

Thanks for sharing that @BowserBasher, hope you don't mind but I'll quote a bit of the article as they've got some juicy stuff in there to discuss! And also steal their image, just because it's a helpful visual 

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You might be aware that there’s been a flurry of Avatar Studios news out of the 2022 Annecy International Animation Film Festival in the last few days– they revealed that three movies are actively in the works right now, they confirmed my report on the director of the first movie, and they showed the first teaser for it to the press in attendance.

Let’s tackle that teaser first. After checking with a couple of sources who were in attendance, we’re pretty sure that what was shown was General Fong’s fortress, which was first visited by Aang and the Gaang in Avatar: The Last Airbender Book Two: Earth, Chapter One: The Avatar State.

It was either this exact clip/screencaps from the original, or something very similar. That visual was followed by text saying “the Avatar returns” (a popular tagline these days) and the earthbending symbol. Which brings us to…

The first animated movie coming from Avatar Studios is the prequel I reported on before, and it’s a “prequel” because it stars the most recent earth Avatar before Aang and Korra: Avatar Kyoshi.

Next, I can confirm that the second movie will be the one I exclusively revealed last month: a story focused on Fire Lord Zuko.

Lastly, and this is a brand-new reveal, the third movie is set in the era of Avatar Korra, after the end of the animated series.

They go on to explain that obviously none of this is 100% confirmed, but it's been corroborated with their sources, and the dates are more estimates than anything. But still, potential news is news, and it's fun to discuss! 

I'm actually surprised they'd seemingly go with a Kyoshi movie first? I guess I can understand them wanting to hit three eras and doing so in chronological order, and I suppose Kyoshi is a bit on the darker side of things from what I've heard than what we've had before, so it could be a good way to set the tone? Of the three I suppose it's also the one that they've got the most room to expand on in terms of on-screen presence (still haven't read those Kyoshi novels, so I still need to get around to that! But I do wonder if that will have much overlap, if any?) while not being a 100% new character and era. I'm 1000% onboard either way though! I feel like they could maybe also kind of make up for Nick's completely abhorrent handling of Korra and Asami's same-sex relationship to some extent here too. 

Zuko is the one I thought we'd get a focus on first, just as a sequel to the end of ATLA I thought that would be the one they came out of the gate with. I know not everyone is keen to see a story already told be retold, but adapting The Search just makes way too much sense to me. They could tell other stories in that era post-ATLA I suppose, but if you skip over The Search and have a movie based on Zuko...well, that would certainly be an odd choice, at least to me, I feel like providing answers to the lingering questions from the end of ATLA to a wider audience - especially if a movie is centred around Zuko - is essential before moving onto other stories in that era, you know? Especially other stories involving him. 

Honestly though, I think I might be most excited by the idea of Korra returning. LoK was hamstrung to hell by Nickelodeon before, so getting some Korra and Asami stuff where they're not having to do the thing that also happened with Adventure Time (what the hell were these dopey higher-ups thinking in the mid-2010's, seriously?) where they're tiptoeing around stuff a lot and getting in trouble for it would be nice. We never got to see what the state of the Fire Nation was really like from them inside in LoK other than through their presence (or lack thereof) during issues of politics and war outside of the Fire Nation, so sign me the hell up for that! 

Curious what everyone else's thoughts on that are 

There's been a lot going on with the Netflix show as of late which has kind of passed me by. To go over some of the recent stuff, there have been leaked set photos going around from inside their volume (the massive LED walls and set used for live-action Star Wars, they actually got a Guinness World Record because theirs is currently the biggest! They've also been filming on location too, apparently doing what's best for each individual scene, so that's exciting to hear) and honestly, they look insanely good; Amber Midthunder (an Indigenous Sioux actress) has been cast as Yue; C.S. Lee has been cast as Roku; and, well, shooting wrapped on the show yesterday. I don't feel like a Q1 2023 release is out of the question for the show? There was also confirmation that the first season will be 8 one-hour episodes, meaning it'll be roughly as long as the animated season 1 of ATLA, and reports are saying the show will have a budget of $120 million for its first season, or $15 million per episode. For context, this puts its budget in excess of shows like The Mandalorian. 

At this point, do I think the Netflix show is needed? Still probably not. 

Will I watch it? You're damn right I will 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Julius

[BowserBasher]

 

[Jonnas]

So, looking at the previous posts, it seems that Avatar Studios is looking to release both that movie AND the Kyoshi movie in the same year? Isn't that a risky move for a new studio? If either flops, that might put a serious dent on their future.

Looking to remain positive, but I can't help but be a realist. Avatar went from nothing to suddenly getting animated films as content. Despite its acclaim, the franchise is not exactly a sure sell right now.

[BowserBasher]

16 hours ago, Jonnas said:

Looking to remain positive, but I can't help but be a realist. Avatar went from nothing to suddenly getting animated films as content. Despite its acclaim, the franchise is not exactly a sure sell right now.

I can see the thought on not being a sure thing, but I do believe there is still enough of a following and fan base for it to succeed. Plus this being from the original creators it's not just going to be thrown together. There will be care taken. I think this will be ok.

It's the Live action one that may fall flat.

[BowserBasher]

It's a long wait but lets go!

[Jonnas]

Down to the day, three years from now!? Man, that is some careful planning!

[Julius]

Here's an absolutely nothing teaser for the Netflix show, arriving 2024:

And here's the main cast looking like the main cast...

...apart from maybe Sokka, who is kind of giving me the Ember Island player vibe, but hey it's still pretty close! 

[BowserBasher]

This actually is looking really good, I don’t want to get my hopes up too much but could this be the live action adaptation we have been waiting for?

[bob]

That is an awesome trailer! When that music kicked in at the end, my excitement went through the roof!

[Julius]

Still looking really good:

That shot of that Agni Kai 

Just a month to go...

Edited January 23 by Julius

[BowserBasher]

45 minutes ago, Julius said:

Still looking really good:

I was just coming to post this. Have to say I’m optimistic about this. This looks great, showed a good mix of the bending abilities (and they looked great) great looking environment, and even showed off some comic moments. And it seems that a lot of people are also actually liking the look of it. Bring on a months time. I’m not sure if this is following the same three season arc the animated show did, does anyone knows? So Water, Earth, Fire.

[Julius]

8 minutes ago, BowserBasher said:

Have to say I’m optimistic about this. This looks great, showed a good mix of the bending abilities (and they looked great) great looking environment, and even showed off some comic moments. And it seems that a lot of people are also actually liking the look of it.

Yeah, it's hard to say I disagree with anything you mention – it really does look great. I'm super happy about the shots of levity, it feels like so many live-action projects these days kind of forget the joy of just being fun, or maybe it just feels that way because those aren't the ones getting the big budgets and being allowed to set the pace?

I think the debates are going to come along after this first season has completely aired and the eternal discussion of how it holds up to the original animated series kick off, as happened with HBO's The Last of Us last year and the game. Not saying that's right or wrong, but yeah, it seems inevitable 

I'm also actually really curious to see how long conversation around this adaptation lasts. The Last of Us was only a game before it was adapted, meaning it could only be played by people with certain consoles, and with the changes they made too, having weekly episodes made a lot of sense – and a lot of the discourse was kept to the contents of the show itself.

On the other hand, this entire first season of Netflix's TLA is being thrown out all at once, and with the story already being a known quantity and the original animated series still being available on the service (at least over here) I'm not sure it'll have that same long lasting impression on the public consciousness that TLOU managed to. I'd also love to know what the split is on existing fans checking it out vs total newcomers – I mean, at this point, surely the only holdouts of the regular Netflix subscribing crowd are going to be people who just don't care for animation? 

Anyways, I'll shut up 

12 minutes ago, BowserBasher said:

I’m not sure if this is following the same three season arc the animated show did, does anyone knows? So Water, Earth, Fire.

That seems to be the plan from what I can gather? At least, this first season is covering all of ATLA S1. It's not been officially confirmed that the second and third seasons are locked in, I don't think, so I think they're waiting to see how the first season does, but I'll be shocked if it tanks and ends up getting cancelled after it's first season. My attempt at understanding Netflix wanting to adapt the series to live-action in the first place was to still have the franchise on their platform in some way after it potentially moves back to Paramount+ in more territories. 

Also, as great as the first season of ATLA is, the second and third seasons are overwhelmingly seen as the better seasons of the show. It's not really at risk of being a Cowboy Bebop situation from my POV because there wasn't all that much to adapt and they did so weirdly, whereas if they're capable of adapting ATLA S1, I'm going to have a hard time believing that they don't think they can make some serious waves by then going on to adapt S2 and S3. 

[BowserBasher]

2 minutes ago, Julius said:

Also, as great as the first season of ATLA is, the second and third seasons are overwhelmingly seen as the better seasons of the show.

I totally agree. I actually feel that the third season  and the who build to the final battle is some of the best story I’ve watched. Oh, I know what will annoy people about this, if they don’t have the Ember Island Players “recap” episode, still my favourite recap episode in all tv. 

[Julius]

The series producers did a trailer breakdown with IGN:

And if you actually want to go off the deep end, Hello Future Me (great channel) did a...4 hour and 20 minute live breakdown over on YouTube:

2 hours ago, BowserBasher said:

I totally agree. I actually feel that the third season  and the who build to the final battle is some of the best story I’ve watched.

Absolutely! I'm nervous about this adaptation of the show potentially trying to replace the original (I think it has an uphill battle in doing so, mainly because live-action/CG blend on a modern TV budget still isn't aging quite so gracefully, whereas the original still holds up and is timeless), but man, I'd love to see some of those S3 moments adapted in live-action, with just a little bit of difference! 

Would really like to see how they'd handle the extreme colours of the final few confrontations, actually. Trying to imagine some of those moments in live-action is pretty tough, so I'd like to see if they'd approach that a bit differently. 

2 hours ago, BowserBasher said:

Oh, I know what will annoy people about this, if they don’t have the Ember Island Players “recap” episode, still my favourite recap episode in all tv. 

1000%.

The fact that you get to view a recap with the characters, are exposed to certain perspectives/bring up certain questions for the cast to walk into answering in the final few episodes, poke fun at certain elements (like what happened to Jet ), and that they do it all through live theatre with absolutely hilarious casting choices...man. 

If this weren't out so soon I think I'd start a re-watch of the original 

Edited January 23 by Julius

[BowserBasher]

13 hours ago, Julius said:

If this weren't out so soon I think I'd start a re-watch of the original

I’m getting that urge too. But will hold off for now. 
I know everyone is going to be comparing this to the original, I think what they need to do, or hope they have is stick to the main story but maybe just take some parts that may do with a little extra and enhance it that way. Don’t go for a one to one remake but don’t stray too far from the core of the story. 

[FalcoLombardi]

I wasn't too impressed with the trailer, but I'll watch the first few episodes regardless.

[BowserBasher]

Worrying on the Sozons comet part

 

they should have just filmed it all in one go. Go broke or go home. Now there could be some very altered season two and three. 

[Julius]

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The cast and creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender take us behind the scenes to explain how they brought the show to life.

 

On 1/27/2024 at 7:29 PM, BowserBasher said:

Worrying on the Sozons comet part

 

they should have just filmed it all in one go. Go broke or go home. Now there could be some very altered season two and three. 

Yeah, "it's the Stranger Things problem" isn't really something you can get away with here. It's not like they had any way of knowing that the entire story took place within the space of a year, it's not like they're adapting a story finished over a decade and a half ago or anything 

I totally agree that they should've filmed it back to back. It doesn't really move the needle on how I think the show will turn out when all is said and done - I'm kind of curious to see what changes they'll have to make to address the different timeline - but, I mean, it doesn't scream that they have full confidence in the project if they don't plan to see it through all the way to the end from the outset. What are they waiting for? They have the viewing numbers of the animated show to support the idea that there's an audience for this, AND that's exactly what got the adaptation greenlit in the first place! 

The fact that there's already an incredibly famous example of a work being adapted with simultaneous shooting from two decades ago makes this all the more embarrassing, and yes, I am implying that Avatar (TLA, not the blue people) should be treated with the same respect and reverence when being adapted as The Lord of the Rings. 

[BowserBasher]

4 minutes ago, Julius said:

The fact that there's already an incredibly famous example of a work being adapted with simultaneous shooting from two decades ago makes this all the more embarrassing, and yes, I am implying that Avatar (TLA, not the blue people) should be treated with the same respect and reverence when being adapted as The Lord of the Rings. 

I always remember in the extra material from the Lord of the Rings DVD's that Peter Jackson said that they had to do that and it would either be the best piece of filming or a total train wreck if the first one flopped.

I do agree though, Avatar has a very specific story and timeline in the original show. Even if they go with extending the timeline a bit for it not to all happen in one year, you still have a full story that you can plan out to take place over a couple years at least. Its a fairly complete story in that it shouldn't take longer than 3 or 4 seasons, so if you are going to go for it, go for broke and just film it all in one go as you know your actors are going to age at such a pace that they will grow up too fast if you don't.

[bob]

Nobody is going to fund 3 or 4 seasons of an expensive live action series up front, regardless of how popular it is. You're living in crazy cuckoo land.

[Julius]

Final trailer for Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender

I'm nervous about it, I won't lie, but the original will always be there to return to. I want to see how certain scenes look in live-action and what changes and tweaks they make more than anything else. 

[bob]

I'm really looking forward to it, but tempering my expectations.

The Avatar subreddits have all started going insane. Everyone snapping at each others throats over every tiny thing and agonising over every detail.

[bob]

I watched the first episode last night. 

Very pleasantly surprised. I thought it captured the feeling of the original pretty well, and didn't come across as a fan-made film or a parody or anything. It did feel a bit low budget in places, but that's always going to be the case for a TV show compared to a blockbuster film. 

My only real gripe with the first episode was the actress playing the old woman in Wolf Cove was pretty bad. Her line delivery was terrible.

 

I'm trying not to read any reviews or reactions online (at least until i've finished it), but dear god some of the people on Reddit are unhinged. It's not a shot-for-shot remake of the cartoon and is therefore absolute garbage.