The Last Airbender, the newest film from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, opened last week in theatres. It received awful reviews from critics yet it still was able to gross a very respectable amount of money. After opening on Wednesday it went on to pull in about $57 million for its 5 day opening. While this is nothing to look down upon, the film did cost $280 million so it still has a long way to go until it makes back its budget.
The Playlist is reporting that despite the negative reviews, Shyamalan would like to do a sequel. Apparently he even has the sequel all mapped out.
“The third is more ambiguous, but the second one, I’ve written a draft that I’m really happy with and is darker and richer,” he told MTV. “And it has a wonderful antagonist in it in Azula, who’s kind of like our only real, pure antagonist in the series, so I’m excited about that.”
After a full week in release, Airbender is up to about $80 million according to the latest estimates and analysts predict the film will hit around $125 or $150 million before it leaves theatres. That is for the US alone, after you add in the international totals the film could easily make back the $280 million and possibly, even more. Never underestimate the box office totals from overseas as they usually contribute a great deal to a film’s worldwide box office total.
So while a sequel is still quite a ways from being greenlit, it isn’t totally out of the question. If the film does manage to breakeven there is a good chance that Shyamalan will have his sequel greenlit.
